Venus Williams lost to Elina Svitolina at the 2023 Wimbledon and she explained why she didn't shake hands with the umpire.
Venus Williams made her long-awaited comeback at the 2023 Libema Open where she only played one match. The American then made her way to Birmingham where she won one match and then lost the next one. It was an interesting experience because she had a tumble in that match which appeared to injure her but she continued to play and actually won that match.
The next event was obviously Wimbledon as fans were excited to see her back at the event. She played a fair match against Svitolina but ultimately couldn't overcome a younger and fitter opponent. There was another tumble in the match which left her in visible pain so it's likely that she didn't really play the match fully fit.
The match itself ended with an odd situation as a ball by Svitolina was called out. Venus continued playing but made a mistake with Svitolina asking for a challenge. The challenge showed that the ball was in and umpire Marija Cicak declared the match over.
Both players were a bit surprised by that as they expected the point to be replayed but Cicak made a judgment call based upon the line umpire calling out quite late which wouldn't have impacted Williams.
The American legend wasn't particularly happy with that and declined to shake hands with the umpire. She was asked about that decision and said it was because she didn't agree with the call.
I completely disagreed with the call. It was just that kind of day.
It was a heat-of-the-moment decision by Williams who had skirmishes with umpires over the course of her career. This wasn't a huge deal but it could be the last thing she's remembered for at Wimbledon as this might have been her last one.
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