Seven-time grand slam champion Venus Williams insisted on Monday that retirement was not on her agenda despite suffering her earliest French Open exit in 12 years.
The 32-year-old American slumped to a 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 loss to Poland’s Urszula Radwanska, 10 years her junior, in the first round on Sunday, her worst result since losing to Barbara Schett at the same stage in 2001.
Troubled by a back injury in recent weeks, the 30th-seeded American had mounted a stirring comeback in the second set tiebreak, clawing her way from 0-4 down to reel off seven points in succession.
But the effort was too much as Radwanska, the younger sister of world No.4 Agnieszka, claimed victory on her second match point.
Williams, who lost to Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round in Paris in 2012, believes that if she can quickly cure her back ailment, which has slammed the brakes on her service action, she can still confound the doubters in the grasscourt season which lies ahead.
“My strategy was more or less to put the ball in, and that’s very difficult for me because that’s not who I am. But that’s all I had. So that was challenging to be conservative on the serve and then go to be aggressive during the point,” she said.
“It changes your mindset. That’s a little challenging. I want my serve back. I’m going to try to get it back for Wimbledon.”
Williams, a five-time Wimbledon champion, believes she still has a role to play on the courts, if not as a winner anymore then as a role model to other sufferers of Sjogren’s Syndrome, the illness that kept her off tour for seven months between 2011 and 2012.
“What I’ve gone through, it’s not easy. But I’m strong and I’m a fighter. I don’t think I’m just playing for me now. I think I’m playing for a lot of people who haven’t felt well,” she said.
“I would never give up because, you know, obviously at some point everyone has to retire. You know, that’s an asterisk, but I feel like I have to give myself a chance to continue working on feeling better.
“I wouldn’t just give up just because it was difficult.”
