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Serena Williams retires with illness at Wuhan Open
WUHAN, China -- In her first match since winning the U.S. Open, Serena Williams retired to Alize Cornet in the second round at the Wuhan Open due to a viral illness on Tuesday. Williams, who arrived in Wuhan on Saturday, was able to break Cornet's serve after a long deuce game to give herself an opportunity to serve out the first set at 6-5, but signs of her physical discomfort were evident throughout the match. Williams looked fatigued and slow with her footwork in a long deuce game at 5-all.
After breaking Cornet's serve Williams called the trainer and doctor on the changeover, where her temperature and blood pressure were taken.
After a brief consultation Williams retired from the match. She was helped off the court with the aid of the trainer and was taken to the hospital as a precaution.
"I'm sorry to all the fans in Wuhan that I had to retire from my match against Alize today. I felt dizzy and nauseous in the first set and unfortunately couldn't continue," Serena said after the match. "The tournament organizers have done an amazing job preparing the facilities for this year's event and I really hope to come back to the Wuhan Open in 2015."
Serena's next tournament is next week's China Open in Beijing.
Contributor, SI.com Nguyen is a freelance writer for SI.com, providing full coverage of professional tennis both on and off the court. Her content has become a must-read for fans and insiders to stay up-to-date with a sport that rarely rests. She has appeared on radio and TV talk shows all over the world and is one of the co-hosts of No Challenges Remaining, a weekly podcast available on iTunes. Nguyen graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 1999 and received a law degree from the University of California, Davis in 2002. She lives in the Bay Area.