Venus Williams opens up about injury sustained at Wimbledon after fall in match against Elina Svitolina.

Seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams lost her first-round match at Wimbledon against world No. 73 Elina Svitolina following a rough fall that left the American screaming in pain.

Williams, who came into the match ranked No. 511 in the WTA rankings, took a small lead early on with 2-0. However, it was bad luck from then on as in the third game, the 43-year-old slipped and fell on the grass surface. She was evidently in pain after the fall, but continued to play despite the injury to her right knee.

The level of the former world No. 1 significantly dropped following the fall, and Svitolina defeated her in straight sets, flying through to the next round. For Williams, this meant the end of her 24th Wimbledon appearance before it had even got off the ground.

Speaking in the press conference after the match, Williams said she "got killed by the grass" which is "inherently going to be slippy." Williams added that "You're going to fall at some point" and "it was just bad luck" that she happened to fall on the court during the match.

Nevertheless, the five-time Wimbledon champion was bitterly disappointed,

"I've been missing from the tour for quite a while. This is not what I want for myself. This kind of fall, I didn't do anything wrong [...] Those kinds of things are hard to process emotionally, mentally and physically on the court."

It certainly wasn't the fairytale run that Williams was hoping for, in what is her 30th year on the WTA Tour. Instead, Ukrainian 28-year-old Svitolina will advance to the next round, where she will face 28th seed Elise Mertens.