Injured Serena withdraws from French Open shortly before match against Sharapova
Image: Thomas SAMSON / AFP
American Serena Williams withdrew from the French Open on Monday, shortly before she was due on court to face Maria Sharapova in a much-anticipated fourth round showdown.
The 36-year-old 23-times Grand Slam champion, making a comeback after maternity leave, told a news conference she had a pectoral muscle injury.
"Unfortunately I'm having some issues with my pec muscle. Right now I can't actually serve it's kind of hard to play," she said.
It has been almost 2-1/2 years since Williams and Sharapova last faced off across the net but when it comes to these two great on-court foes, absence does not make the heart grow fonder.
While Sharapova's quarter-final defeat by Williams at the 2016 Australian Open ended up being the last competitive match the Russian would play for 15 months after she was slapped with a doping ban, her American rival was on a maternity break for most of 2017.
Making her Grand Slam comeback in Paris following the birth of her daughter Alexis Olympia last September, Williams will renew her fierce on-court rivalry with Sharapova on Monday when they meet in a highly-anticipated fourth-round showdown at the French Open.