Serena Williams did not take part in the Round of 4 of the Indian Wells Tennis tournament yesterday due to her knee sprain.
It was a hugely disappointing thing for the people present there who had bought their tickets only to see the local girl Serena play.
The Williams family has had the history of withdrawing from the middle of this tournament. Venus had done the same over here in 2001 and she had found herself on the receiving hand big time. The crowd had booed her in quite a nasty way.
No such thing happened to Serena though. The crowd was a bit understandable about her situation. There were a few whistles when the World no. 1 walked out of the arena following her announcement of withdrawal, but, most of the people clapped and showed respect for the decision of the American veteran.
According to Serena, she was geared up for this game, but, while going through the training drills, she damaged her knee and in the last few hours, her condition got worse and worse only. She could not even walk; let alone playing such a fierce fixture.
Because of the fact that her sister had been booed by the spectators at Indian Wells 14 years back, Serena had actually not been playing in this tournament since then. But, this season, she made the decision to be back at the venue and she seemed to be cruising to the title, but, the luck did not have it that way eventually.
Making the announcement ahead of the semi final clash, Serena said, “I damaged one of the knees of mine the day before yesterday and it has exaggerated a bit over the previous day or so.”
“It’s hard for me at this point of time to walk smoothly. So, I can’t think about playing.”