World number one tennis player Serena Williams has bowed out of the Rio 2016 Olympics in what commentators are calling “one of the biggest head-scratchers of her career”.
Her third round match against Ukraine‘s Elina Svitolina, ranked #20 in the world, was riddled with errors and double faults, and saw Williams lose 6-4, 6-3 in just 72 minutes.
To put that into perspective, just two months ago Williams smashed Svitlonia at the French Open 6-1, 6-1.
“Obviously I’m disappointed,” Williams later said in a statement, opting to not attend her post-match news conference. “The better player won. It was a great opportunity that didn’t work out the way I wanted it to. At least I was able to make Rio, which was one of my goals. It was awesome, but it’s over now.”
Williams is also out of the doubles, having lost with her sister Venus in the first round against Czech due Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova 6-3, 6-4.
Svitolina, it’s gotta be said, is pretty stoked.
“It was just an unreal feeling, just a relief for me because I didn’t expect even in that moment that I could win,” she said. “And I think it helped me a lot — you don’t expect mistakes from her and just fight and stay focused. Being in the moment, that’s definitely what helped me today, and just relax and go for my shots because I was doing some winners and especially on the second set when it was really, really tight.”
Source: USA Today.
Photo: Getty / Brazil Photo Press.
