23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams has pulled out of the ongoing French Open as a result of a right pectoral muscle injury.
Serena Williams, 36, was initially expected to face rival Maria Sharapova of Russia in the fourth round.
While speaking about the reason behind her withdrawal, Serena Williams said: “I’ve had issues with the right pectoral muscle to the point where I can’t serve.”
“I’ll have a scan. I won’t know about Wimbledon until I get the results.” she added.
According to the three-time French Open champion, she noticed the problem during her third-round win over German 11th seed Julia Gorges on Saturday.
The mother of one also talked about how she tried to manage the injury during her doubles match with sister Venus on Sunday.
She said: “I tried lots of taping and support to see how it felt in match circumstances.”
“It is hard to play when I can’t physically serve. I’ve never had this injury before, I’ve never felt it in my life and it was so painful.
“I don’t know how to manage it.” she concluded.
Her opponent Sharapova was kind enough to send a message of recovery to Serena Williams as she said: “I wish her a speedy recovery and hope she returns to the tour soon.”
Two-time winner Sharapova will now play 2016 champion Garbine Muguruza for a place in the last four as the Spaniard was 2-0 up in the opening set of her match against Lesia Tsurenko before the Ukrainian retired hurt.
The top two seeds namely Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki posted different results from their last 16 games.
World number one Halep defeated Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-2 6-1 to ensure that the Romanian will now face 12th seeded German Angelique Kerber for a place in the semifinal.
Kerber saw off home favourite Caroline Garcia 6-2 6-3 in her last 16 clash.
Second seed Caroline Wozniacki has, however, crashed out after she was beaten by Daria Kasatkina of Russia.
The Dane suffered a 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 defeat to 14th seed Kasatkina who will now face 10th seeded American Sloane Stephens for the right to secure a last four spot.
