Deja vu as knee injury forces Serena Williams out of Indian Wells semi-final

Sport360 staff 05:09 22/03/2015
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  • Difficult decision: Serena Williams.

    Serena Williams pulled out of her Indian Wells semi-final, 14 years after sister Venus withdrew at the same stage to spark a fan uproar that led to a Williams boycott of the event.

    Serena withdrew moments before her scheduled semi-final match on Friday night with a right knee injury, ending her hopes for a storybook finish after she made the decision several months ago to finally return to the joint WTA and ATP tournament.

    Ironically, Venus also pulled out of her semi-final match in 2001 with a knee injury. Serena strode out onto the court to deliver the news in person to the Tennis Garden fans, who had just watched Jelena Jankovic beat Sabine Lisicki in the first women’s semi-final.

    “A couple of days ago at my practice I injured my knee,” Williams told the crowd. “Today it was a struggle to walk.”

    Unlike 14 years ago when she was heckled and booed in the final against Kim Clijsters, the crowd stood and applauded Serena as she spoke. There were one or two scattered boos, but they were drowned out by the loud cheering.

    Serena said she had an MRI scan and doctors told her she suffered a strain in her quadriceps tendon. She tried treating it with an antiinflammation injection but it didn’t feel better.

    “I was just on the practice court two days ago and everything was going good,” she said. “I went for a serve and just felt a super sharp pain in my knee.”

    Asked why she couldn’t play through the pain, Serena said she didn’t want to risk a long-term injury.

    “When you get to a level of pain where you are at nine or a 10 or even an eight, you don’t want to push it because you can actually make it a lot worse,” she said.

    In 2001, Venus Williams pulled out of a highly anticipated semifinal clash with her sister at the last minute with a knee injury. Serena said she didn’t see the irony in it.

    “I don’t make anything of it. I feel that was 14 years ago and this is now. I did the best I could at this event and I am really happy to have put a lot of that behind me,” Serena said.

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