Opinion: Serena Williams and Team Blew It at French Open

The French Open is into the quarterfinals, but the biggest result on Monday at Roland Garros was no result.
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Serena Williams withdrew prior to her blockbuster match with Maria Sharapova, citing a pectoral muscle pull.

“I’ve unfortunately been having issues with my pec muscle and unfortunately it’s been getting worse,” Williams told reporters. “Right now, I can’t actually serve so it’s actually hard to play when I can’t physically serve.”

Which causes one to ask: if Serena was easing her way back in, why did she play doubles also? Did she want to play mixed too?

“It didn’t start before I got here,” she said. “The first time I felt it was against [Julia] Goerges in my last match. That’s when I started to feel it. It was really painful and I didn’t know what it was…In my doubles yesterday, I tried a lot of different tapings and support to see how it would feel under match circumstances. I’m not serving that often; I’m serving once every four games…I thought it was a perfect opportunity to see how I was. It didn’t get a lot better.”

Sharapova advances to an all-former-No. 1 battle with Garbine Muguruza, who advanced when Lesia Tsurenko retired trailing 0-2 in the first set.

“I saw her hitting a shot and that she didn’t look very well, and so from that moment, I think she didn’t feel good,” Muguruza said. “It’s not beautiful. I know how it feels. I had few retirements at the beginning of the year, and it’s very tough, especially here, for sure, fourth round of French Open.”

World No. 1 Simona Halep and Angie Kerber set up another all-current-or-former-No. 1 battle when Halep beat Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-1, and Kerber topped Caroline Garcia 6-2, 6-3.

“I’m trying really going out there, trying to enjoying also playing on clay,” Kerber said. “Because the last years I was always too fast, I was always overpowering my tennis. Now I’m trying to play more relaxed and trying to moving better and just looking from match to match.”

Finishing a match from Sunday, No. 14 Daria Kasatkina upset No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki 7-6(5), 6-3.

“I think the slower the surface is, the better for her,” Wozniacki said. “She has very good hands and good angles and everything, so I think that suits her. I honestly didn’t think I played badly this morning. She didn’t miss one ball, and she was playing very close to the lines. I was trying what I could, but it just wasn’t enough today.”

Matches on Tuesday at Roland Garros are the quarterfinals (10) Sloane Stephens vs. (14) Kasatkina, and (13) Madison Keys vs. Yulia Putintseva.