(June 30, 2015) On Tuesday the Williams sisters pulled out of women’s doubles at Wimbledon. In a statement, Serena’s official reason for the withdrawal was “soreness”
“Following yesterday’s match, I feel it would be best for me to concentrate on singles here at Wimbledon, and as a result, have made the decision to withdraw from doubles,” Serena said in a statement. “I’ve always loved playing doubles with Venus, particularly here at Wimbledon where we’ve had so much success over the years, and so I’m really sorry to have to withdraw this year.”
Serena and Venus both won opening round singles matches on Monday. World No. 1 Serena is seeking her fourth straight major in a row for a second “Serena Slam” and is attempting to win the third leg of a traditional Grand Slam.
Misaki Doi and Stephanie Vogt replaced the Williams sisters in the draw.
The biggest upset of the tournament took place on Tuesday when third seed Simona Halep lost to No. 106th ranked Jana Cepelova 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
Halep was treated for a lost toenail in the first set.
“I knew it would be a difficult tournament for me,” said Halep whose has been suffering from some poor results recently. “But I didn’t expect to lose in first round.” Last year the Romanian reached the semifinals at the All-England Club.
“To be honest, I have no reaction because, like I said at my first press conference on the weekend, I had no expectations for this tournament. And now here I am,” she said. “I knew that it would be a difficult tournament for me, but yeah, I didn’t expect to lose in the first round. But she played good tennis today. She was fighting until the end, and she was playing aggressively when she could.
“Life is not always good, but I have enough power to go ahead and just think about what I have to do to do better, and just get the good feeling back on court during my matches. I just have to work hard.”
Halep’s Opponent in last year’s Wimbledon semifinal was also ousted on Tuesday. Eugenie Bouchard, lost her 12th match out of the last 14, beaten by Chinese qualifier Duan Ying-Ying, ranked 117th 7-6 (3), 6-4.
“It’s been a huge learning process to have great results and then have, you know, so much attention, then have bad results,” Bouchard said. “Just learning about the ups and downs of life and tennis, how things won’t always go perfectly, like I expect them to. I’m always trying to keep the belief and stay true to myself and do what I need to do to become as good as I know I can be. So it’s really just been kind of eye-opening, a learning experience,” she added, resting her chin on her right hand, then added with a laugh: “But I’m good for the learning experience to be over now.”
Bouchard has been suffering from an abdominal tear which limited her practice.
“Probably wouldn’t have been smart to play here, but I couldn’t pass on Wimbledon,” said Bouchard. “In my head, it was no question I was going to play, even though I was advised not to. It’s just the way I am. It’s so hard to be forced not to play tennis, especially at Wimbledon.”
“So I did kind of minimal preparation to save myself for this match.”
The loss will put Bouchard out of the Top 20.
WIMBLEDON – WIMBLEDON, LONDON, GBR
GRAND SLAM – £26,750,000
29 JUNE – 12 JULY 2015
RESULTS – JUNE 29, 2015
Women’s
Singles – First Round
(2) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. Kiki Bertens (BED) 61 60
Jana Cepelova (SVK) d. (3) Simona Halep (ROU) 57 64 63
(5) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Saisai Zheng (CHN) 75 60
(8) Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) d. (Q) Sachia Vickery (USA) 62 64
(10) Angelique Kerber (GER) d. Carina Witthoeft (GER) 60 60
(Q) Ying-Ying Duan (CHN) d. (12) Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) 76(3) 64
(13) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Lucie Hradecka (CZE) 63 62
(15) Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) d. Julia Goerges (GER) 62 75
(17) Elina Svitolina (UKR) d. Misaki Doi (JPN) 36 63 62
(18) Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS) 75 64
(20) Garbine Muguruza (ESP) d. Varvara Lepchenko (USA) 64 61
(21) Madison Keys (USA) vs. Stefanie Boegele (SUI) 67(3) 63 22 (Suspended: darkness)
(25) Alize Cornet (FRA) d. Ana Konjuh (CRO) 62 62
(26) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. (Q) Laura Siegemund (GER) 63 64
(28) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. Elena Vesnina (RUS) 64 36 108
(31) Camila Giorgi (ITA) d. Teliana Pereira (BRA) 76(4) 63
Heather Watson (GBR) d. (32) Caroline Garcia (FRA) 16 63 86 (Saved 3mp)
Denisa Allertova (CZE) d. Katerina Siniakova (CZE) 62 46 63
Lara Arruabarrena (ESP) d. Pauline Parmentier (FRA) 64 62
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO) d. Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 75 67(5) 75
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. Mona Barthel (GER) 67(3) 76(4) 62 (Saved 1mp)
Silvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP) d. Sesil Karatantcheva (BUL) 26 62 75
Christina McHale (USA) d. Johanna Larsson (SWE) 63 62
Krystina Pliskova (CZE) d. Tereza Smitkova (CZE) 36 75 75
Monica Niculescu (ROU) d. Monica Puig 57 63 61
Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) d. Karin Knapp (ITA) 76(6) 30 retired (Right ankle injury)
(Q) Olga Govortsova (BLR) d. Andreea Mitu (ROU) 61 61
Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) vs. Elizaveta Kulichkova (RUS) 62 67(6) 11 (Suspended: darkness)
Tatjana Maria (GER) d. Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) 76(2) 75
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) d. Klara Koukalova (CZE) 63 64
Casey Dellacqua (AUS) d. (Q) Tamira Paszek (AUT) 62 62
Evgeniya Rodina (RUS) d. (WC) Laura Robson (GBR) 64 64
Kurumi Nara (JPN) d. Magda Linette (POL) 36 63 43 retired (Left thigh injury)