In an ESPNW article published on Wednesday, nine-time Wimbledon champion and current BBC commentator Martina Navratilova expressed her doubts about the legitimacy of Serena Williams’ claims that a virus caused her much-publicized on-court issues during her doubles match on Tuesday at Wimbledon.
More: Serena Williams Retires from Doubles after Scary Incident
"I find it distressing," said Martina Navratilova told Melissa Isaacson of ESPNW. "I think virus, whatever they're saying it was, I don't think that was it. I think it's clear that's not the case. I don't know what it is, but I hope Serena will be OK. And most of all, I don't know how she ended up walking onto the court."
Williams attempted to play her doubles match on Tuesday in a dazed state that saw her have difficulties with balance, hitting simple shots and serving. After consulting with doctors, she elected to play the match, but then elected to retire after serving four consecutive double faults.
Navratilova appears to be most concerned with the fact that Williams tried to play the match when she clearly wasn’t ready.
"It's the most inexplicable thing of all that she was clearly in no state to play a match and that with all the people around her, that they didn't stop her from getting on the court," Navratilova said.
"I've never seen anything like it and hopefully never will again," Navratilova said. "Everybody was put in such a difficult position, including the WTA. It's not right. It defies logic on so many fronts. The coach said he hadn't seen her for two days. He didn't know anything. How can you be a coach and not know anything? That's wrong. And Venus was just kind of there. You don't know what's going on, but virus was not it, that much is clear.
"Either you go home or default. I would expect a default before you play. But once you step onto the court, you're a professional tennis player, you've got to be ready to play. No matter what is ailing you or no matter if you did anything to get you in that state or you're sick or whatever, you don't step on the court. You don't step on the court no matter what."
Read the full article here
Meanwhile, Serena is just happy to be home. She posted this on her Instagram on Wednesday morning: