After days of rumors and speculations about her injury, Serena Williams has now withdrawn from the doubles draw at Wimbledon. Serena’s withdrawal also means Venus Williams will no longer compete in the doubles event, sending Solana Sierra and Camila Osorio through to the second round via walkover. While announcing her withdrawal, Serena also provided an update on the injury that forced her out of the tournament.

“I’m heartbroken to have to withdraw from doubles,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “Coming back to compete again has been a gift, and the opportunity to play alongside @venuswilliams once more meant the world to me. I did everything I could to be ready, but unfortunately my knee just isn’t ready to compete.”

Serena had sustained a knee injury during her singles clash against Maya Joint earlier this week. Though the 44-year-old had a handful of days to recover from the issue, she eventually couldn’t do so.

Wimbledon even delayed the Williams sisters’ doubles return by two days in order to give Serena enough time to recover. Tournament director Jamie Baker later explained their decision to reschedule and added, “We are giving her as much time [to be ready]. Obviously we want her to play if she possibly can. In terms of the days, it’s a guideline. That’s what we’re hoping to do based on trying to get the tournament finished.”

However, four days after her first round singles match, the 23x Grand Slam champion was seen wearing bandage on her left knee in. She also shared a picture of four syringes that were used to drain fluid out of her knee after the match against Joint.

“The photo of the syringes shows the fluid they drained from my knee after my singles match…yikes! The good news is my knee shouldn’t swell or collect that much fluid again. The bad news is that, as hard as I tried, I just wasn’t able to get it ready for doubles,” she added.

Though this injury might be a hit to morale, Serena appears to be confident about her chances of getting back into action soon.

“Thank you to the fans for your incredible support and for making this comeback so meaningful…All I can say is stay tuned to a city near you,” she further wrote in the post.

Given the intensity of her match against Joint, it was understandable that the 23x Grand Slam champion emerged with a physical setback. She tested Maya Joint throughout their 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 battle and made the young Australian earn her victory. Despite not being very strong on her serve, Serena managed to gain three breaks over the Australian and had a tally of 11 break points in total.

Seeing Serena perform well in singles, many were excited about her long-awaited doubles reunion with Venus at SW19, which would have marked the sisters’ first Wimbledon appearance together in nearly a decade. However, those plans fell through, meaning fans will have to wait a little longer to see the 44-year-old back on court.

This withdrawal also means that Venus’ Wimbledon campaign has also come to an end. She had gained a wildcard for both the women’s doubles and mixed doubles draw for the tournament. The 46-year-old had formed a pair with Kevin Krawietz for the mixed doubles draw, but the two ended up losing 6-4, 6-4 in the first-round clash against Lloyd Glasspool and Tereza Mihalikova.

But the All England Club may not be done with Venus just yet as she can face a hefty fine for breaking the same rule that Serena did earlier in the tournament.

Venus Williams may face a fine $50,000 at Wimbledon

Having gotten eliminated from the first-round of the mixed doubles, Venus and Krawietz will be earning approximately $6,945, which will get divided among the two.

But the former World No. 1 might now have to pay a hefty fine of £37,000 ($50,000) for unexpectedly skipping the press conference after her defeat in the mixed doubles.

According to Grand Slam rules, players must attend post-match media duties within a reasonable time frame unless excused on medical or other reasonable grounds, at the discretion of the supervisors.

Notably, Serena had also broken the same rule after her match against Joint. But she had escaped the fine because of providing clarity over her condition at the right time. Wimbledon was satisfied with her statement and decided to not fine her.

But Venus may not be that lucky as she didn’t provide any reason to the tournament officials behind her absence from the press conference. Though the All England Club are yet to provide an official statement on the matter, there are chances that the fine will be implemented on Venus.