![Day Eight: The Championships - Wimbledon 2014]()
Dang, it’s sounding like people think Serena’s a sore loser...
Martina Navratilova Says She Doesn’t Believe Serena Williams Had Virus At Wimbledon
As time continues to pass without comment from Serena Williams’ camp following her default during her and Venus’ doubles match Tuesday, tennis insiders are questioning the virus used to excuse her strange behavior.
According to ESPNW reports:
The official cause of Williams’ withdrawal from her second-round doubles match with partner and sister Venus on Tuesday was termed a “viral illness,” but that has been a source of rampant speculation.
“I find it distressing,” said Martina Navratilova, a nine-time Wimbledon singles champion (with 20 titles here, including doubles and mixed doubles) and Tennis Channel analyst. “I think virus, whatever they’re saying it was, I don’t think that was it. I think it’s clear that’s not the case. I don’t know what it is, but I hope Serena will be OK. And most of all, I don’t know how she ended up walking onto the court.”
Attempts to reach Williams’ agent, Jill Smoller, were unsuccessful.
The Williams sisters defaulted their match against Kristina Barrois and Stefanie Voegele after four double faults by Serena, who, unsteady on her feet, was unable to bounce, toss or serve the ball. After a few words with the umpire, who came off his chair to talk, she played one more point and then retired. She took her sister’s hand, sat down and was examined by medical personnel.
The start of the match had also been delayed by 14 minutes while a tournament doctor checked on her. Barrois said she was able to tell immediately that something was wrong.
“Barrois said after the first hit in warm-up, [Williams] wasn’t able to hit the ball over the net,” ESPN analyst and former player Pam Shriver said of an interview Wednesday morning. “I asked her what they were being told, and she said they were just told Serena was being evaluated.”
Barrois and Voegele turned down interview requests by American reporters after their third-round loss Wednesday because they did not want to answer questions about Williams.
On Wednesday, the WTA reported that the medical staff from Wimbledon and the WTA checked on Serena in the morning at the home where she is staying and that “she is resting there and feeling slightly better.”
“It’s the most inexplicable thing of all that she was clearly in no state to play a match and that with all the people around her, that they didn’t stop her from getting on the court,” Navratilova said.
She has a point there. Why would Serena be allowed to play at all if she had a virus and couldn’t even hit a ball over the net?
To further add to the confusion, Serena’s coach said he had not seen her in the days before the match.
Williams’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, told reporters he had not seen Serena in two days. Williams, a five-time singles champion here and the tournament’s top seed, was upset Saturday in the third round of singles by No. 25 Alize Cornet.
“I’ve never seen anything like it and hopefully never will again,” Navratilova said. “Everybody was put in such a difficult position, including the WTA. It’s not right. It defies logic on so many fronts. The coach said he hadn’t seen her for two days. He didn’t know anything. How can you be a coach and not know anything? That’s wrong. And Venus was just kind of there. You don’t know what’s going on, but virus was not it, that much is clear.”
Observers, including friends and family, were reported as saying that Williams was distressed after the singles loss. Navratilova, who was No. 1 in the world for a total of 332 weeks in singles and a record 237 weeks in doubles, agreed it was not uncommon for a top player to want to be alone after a big loss.
“[But] why would it take two days?” she said. “Either you go home or default. I would expect a default before you play. But once you step onto the court, you’re a professional tennis player, you’ve got to be ready to play. No matter what is ailing you or no matter if you did anything to get you in that state or you’re sick or whatever, you don’t step on the court. You don’t step on the court no matter what.”
SMH. Do you think Martina Navratilova is being a hater, or is she just keeping it real?
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