Serena Williams withdraws from Wimbledon doubles with knee injury

LONDON: Serena Williams has ended her Wimbledon return after pulling out of the doubles event because of a knee injury, with the withdrawal announced hours before she and sister Venus Williams were due to play their opening match on Saturday.

The 44-year-old said her knee had not recovered sufficiently after she was hurt during her first-round singles defeat to Australia's Maya Joint on Tuesday. In a post on Instagram, Serena said she could not continue in the tournament.

Williams had been set to team up with Venus against Solana Sierra and Camila Osorio after the pair received a wild card for the event. The sisters are six-time Wimbledon doubles champions. Tournament organisers had not assigned the match a court in the order of play, which had raised the prospect of a late withdrawal.

Serena's singles appearance earlier in the week was her first individual match since the 2022 US Open, following four years in retirement. The American great, a 23-time Grand Slam singles champion and seven-time Wimbledon singles winner, had returned to the All England Club for what became a brief comeback.