Serena Williams has pulled out of the Wimbledon doubles tournament due to a knee injury, bringing an emotional end to her return to the All England Club in southwest London. The 44-year-old American, one of the greatest tennis players in history, announced her withdrawal on Saturday just hours before she and her older sister Venus were scheduled to face Argentina's Solana Sierra and Colombia's Camila Osorio in the first round.

Williams sustained the injury during her singles defeat against 20-year-old Australian Maya Joint on Tuesday — her first singles match since the 2022 US Open, following four years away from the sport. Although she showed few outward signs of distress during the three-set match, her knee swelled rapidly afterwards. Medical staff drained fluid from the joint, and Williams shared photographs of the bandaging and syringes on Instagram. "The photo of the syringes shows the fluid they drained from my knee after my singles match… yikes!" she wrote. Tournament organisers had left Saturday's scheduling deliberately flexible, listing no specific court for the doubles match, giving Williams as much time as possible to declare herself fit. She had been due to practise at the club at 16:00 BST but announced her withdrawal around 15 minutes before that session.

Williams expressed both heartbreak and gratitude in her statement. "Coming back to compete again has been a gift, and the opportunity to play alongside Venus once more meant the world to me," she wrote. "I did everything I could to be ready, but unfortunately, my knee just isn't ready to compete." The news was met with widespread disappointment among fans at Wimbledon, where the sisters have won six doubles titles together, adding to their combined 12 Grand Slam singles titles at the tournament. Williams — a seven-time Wimbledon singles champion — had been motivated in part by a wish to compete in front of her two young daughters, Olympia and Adira, who ultimately saw her play just one match.

Williams' return to competitive tennis began last month at Queen's Club in London, where she played doubles alongside Canadian Victoria Mboko, and continued in Berlin before she accepted a Wimbledon wild card into the singles draw at the last moment. Despite her loss to Joint and the doubles withdrawal, those around Williams view the Wimbledon appearance as an encouraging step rather than a definitive setback. Her powerful serve and competitive instincts were evident throughout the singles match, even if her movement showed signs of ring rust. The central questions now are whether her knee will recover in time and whether she can sustain the rigorous training needed to compete on the North American hard-court swing, which culminates at the US Open in New York between 30 August and 13 September — a tournament where Williams is a six-time champion and where she played what many assumed was her farewell match in 2022. Williams, who turns 45 in September, gave little away about her next steps but signed off with a characteristic hint: "All I can say is stay tuned to a city near you."