Serena Williams has pulled out of her Indian Wells semi-final, 14 years after her sister Venus withdrew to spark a fan uproar that led to a boycott of the event by both Williams sisters.
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 tournament.
Serena strode out onto the court to deliver the news in person to 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, the crowd stood and applauded Serena as she spoke.
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 anti-inflammation 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.
“Weighing all that together it just wasn’t a good opportunity for me to play. That being said I think probably five out of 10 matches I play injured.”
In 2001, Venus Williams pulled out of a highly anticipated semi-final clash with her sister at the last minute with a knee injury.
Serena said Friday 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.
Serena said on Friday that doctors told her she should be feeling better in a couple of days.
“It’s not like three or four weeks. I just really need just a couple of days and everything will settle down.
“I have a tremendous amount of inflammation in my knee and it is going to go away. The most frustrating part is it is going to go away in a couple of days.”
Serena’s withdrawal means that third seed Simona Halep advanced to Sunday’s final.
She’ll face Jankovic, who rallied to beat Lisicki 3-6 6-3 6-1.
