For a brief moment on Centre Court, the stadium that has witnessed five of her grand slam titles caught a glimpse of Venus Williams at full flight. In the early stages of her much anticipated encounter with Elina Svitolina, the ball was flying off the 43-year-old’s racket cleanly and with ease as she immediately broke serve.
But just as quickly as she had found her footing, she lost it. At 2-0, Williams slipped on the grass while defending the net, screaming as she clasped at her left knee. After some tense moments, Williams eventually stood up and resumed but as she moved tentatively, Svitolina showed her experience by taking control during the uncertainty and never looking back.
With a clean, mature performance, Svitolina returned to Wimbledon for the first time since 2021 with a win, defeating Williams 6-4, 6-3 in a contest between two players embarking on inspirational comebacks to reach the second round.
“It was a special day for me today to play on Centre Court. I mean, couldn’t be more special to play also against such a great champion as Venus is. Just really happy I could get a first win on Centre Court for me,” said Svitolina.
Afterwards, Williams said she is unsure of what she has done to her knee but it remained painful until the end of the match. Having followed Novak Djokovic’s match on Centre Court, which had included a nearly 90 minute delay due to wet grass, Williams said she did not feel like the court was too slippery.
“It was just bad luck for me. I started the match perfectly. I was literally killing it, then I got killed by the grass,” said Williams. “Yeah, it’s not fun right now. I felt like I was in great form coming into this tournament, and great form in the match. It’s all very shocking at the moment. This is sports. I’m hitting the ball well. Hopefully I can just figure out what’s happening with me and move forward.”
Svitolina stepped onto the court looking to continue her spectacular comeback. After giving birth in October to her daughter, Skaï, and returning to practise in January, she made her comeback in April.
A month later, she won a WTA title in Strasbourg and reached the quarter-final of Roland Garros. After being unranked in April, she is already back inside the top 100.
“Me and Gaël [Monfils] had a special moment in October welcoming our beautiful daughter,” said Svitolina. “They are cheering from home and it’s really special for us and I’m really happy I could come back to tennis really quick. Playing here, playing in a grand slam, it’s an unbelievable feeling.”
As Williams struggled after her slip, Svitolina took advantage. She used Williams’ pace extremely well, constantly crouching down and using her legs to counterpunch and redirect the ball. As the match endured, the quality increased and Williams found a better ballstriking rhythm. Still, Svitolina constantly found a way to flip rallies from defence to attack.
The encounter ended with some controversy as Svitolina’s backhand return was initially called out. Williams, who also thought the ball out, had swatted the ball away around the same time as the call was made. Svitolina’s backhand was ruled in by hawk eye, prompting the umpire to rule that Williams had not been distracted by the call and awarding the point to Svitolina. Clearly unhappy with the call, Williams opted not to shake the umpire’s hand.
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“I completely disagreed with the call. It was just that kind of day,” she said.
Williams departed Centre Court to a standing ovation and, despite her frustration, she saluted the audience. After a difficult year last season, Williams’ level has actually been impressive. She has played at a good level during the grass season, beating Camila Giorgi and forcing Jelena Ostapenko to a tight three setter in Birmingham.
But at 43 years old every match has brought new physical issues. Williams suffered a bad hamstring tear in January that led to a five-month layoff, and in Birmingham she picked up knee and thigh injuries in her two matches. Williams said she was in “shock” after a third injury in three matches.
“I think what makes this one hard to process is I’ve had so many injuries,” she said. “I’ve been missing from tour for quite a while. This is not what I want for myself. This kind of fall, I didn’t do anything wrong. I just went for the ball. There’s nothing I can really do about it. Those kinds of things are hard to process emotionally, mentally and physically on the court.”
Svitolina will next face another interesting match against Elise Mertens, the 28th seed. As she enjoys her growing form on the court and her life as a new mother, Svitolina underlined how heavy things remain for her.
“Every moment that I’m not on the court I’m checking how my family is doing, how the situation is in Ukraine, monitoring all the time what is happening and how me and my foundation, the team around me, how we can help in that particular moment for some kids, for my family, for friends, for anyone. So this is pretty much the life that I have now on the day-to-day basis.”