American tennis star Serena Williams has withdrawn from the 2020 US Open on day four of the competition.
The 39-year-old pulled out of the tournament after suffering an Achilles injury before her second-round match against Tsvetana Pironkova.
Williams was scheduled to take on the Bulgarian on Wednesday, having beaten fellow American Kristie Ahn in the previous round.
Speaking at a press conference, the three-time French Open champion said she needs between four to six weeks to recover from the injury.
Serena Williams has withdrawn from #RolandGarros with an achilles injury. pic.twitter.com/u6vGa9JCkX
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) September 30, 2020
She described the injury as one of the worst, while further revealing that she has been struggling to walk.
“I think I need four to six weeks of sitting and doing nothing,” Williams disclosed to the media.
“I have been struggling to walk so that’s a telltale sign that I should try to recover.
“Achilles is an injury you don’t want to play with – I think it was one of the worst, don’t want to get to that point, I want it to get better.”
The American will, therefore, have to wait for another chance to achieve a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title after a couple of near-misses in recent years.
Williams was recently eliminated from the US Open after suffering a disappointing loss to Victoria Azarenka in the semi-finals.
And she revealed that she was reeling from the injury during her 7-6 (7-3) 6-0 win over Ahn on the opening day of the French Open.
“In the second set, I felt I needed to walk with a limp. I had to focus on walking straight so I wasn’t limping. I tried and always give 100%, I take solace in that.
“I’m not sure I will play another tournament this year. It is not an acute injury, it is a nagging injury. I ran into bad timing and bad luck really,” she added.
