(Football news) Seven time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams was knocked out of the first round by Harmony Tan 7-5 1-6 7-6 (10-7) on Centre Court. Having been sidelined for 12 months due to a hamstring injury, Williams couldn’t recreate her old magic, looking rusty and error prone throughout the encounter, suffering her third first-round loss at a Grand Slam event.

At the age of 40, Serena Williams’ time is running out on her illustrious career but the American remained coy about her future in the post-match interview. She said “Like I said coming into this, I'm just planning for right now, seeing how I feel, just to go from there.” When asked if this might be her final Wimbledon appearance, Williams said “That's a question I can't answer. I don't know. Who knows? Who knows where I'll pop up." 

Despite a disappointing start to the match, Williams took a shaky 4-2 in the opening set but committed 21 unforced errors, resulting in her losing 7-5. However, the American bounced back in the second set to win comfortably (1-6) and looked to have edged out Harmony Tan in the deciding set after leading 3-1, only to falter at the end. Williams said “I think physically I did pretty good. I think the last couple of points, I was really suffering there. But I feel like in just those key points, winning some of those points, is always something mentally that you kind of need. I did pretty well on maybe one or two of them, but obviously not enough." 

When asked if she was satisfied with the first round defeat being her final Wimbledon appearance, Williams said “Obviously not. You know me. Definitely not. But today I gave all I could do. Maybe tomorrow I could have given more. Maybe a week ago I could have given more. But today was what I could do. At some point, you have to be able to be OK with that." 

In other results, World Number 1 Iga Swiatek defeated Jana Fett 6-0, 6-3 to win her 36th consecutive match. The Polish tennis player remains unbeaten since February, winning six tournaments and overcoming Venus Williams’ record set in 2020. She defeated her Croatian opponent on Centre Court, usually reserved for the defending champion, and is undoubtedly the favourite to win the Wimbledon title, especially in the absence of defending champion Ashleigh Barty. 

Swiatek was playing in her first professional match since the Roland Garros and only took 33 minutes to win the opening set 6-0. However, Jana Fett threatened to make a comeback after being 3-1 up in the second set, only for Swiatek to win five games in a row to maintain her 36 game unbeaten run. Speaking after the match, Swiatek said “I'm just figuring out how to play. "I knew it was going to be tricky. I am pretty happy I came back and did it in two sets. I feel I have only played 12 weeks of my life on grass but the whole atmosphere and tradition is pumping me up and just looking forward to the next matches." 

Also read: Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray secure wins at Wimbledon