Serena Williams pulls out of historic Wimbledon doubles comeback as grim medical update issued

Serena Williams has confirmed she will not be partnering her sister Venus in the women’s doubles competition at Wimbledon due to a medical issue.

Twenty-three-time Grand Slam winner Serena, 44, made a shock return to tennis at Queen’s in June after a 1,375-day hiatus from the sport.

She partnered Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko, with the duo winning their first match before Mboko withdrew with a knee injury.

The veteran once again took to the court at the Berlin Open, this time partnering Karolína Muchová, although the duo were beaten in the opening round.

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And after much speculation, the seven-time Wimbledon champion made her long-awaited return to singles competition during the first round of the grass-court major but fell to a 3-6, 7-6, 6-3 defeat against Australia's Maya Joint in the first round.

Despite exiting the singles event, she was due to take part in the doubles competition alongside her sister Venus on Sunday (July 5), with the pair set to face Solana Sierra and Camila Osorio in the first round.

Serena Williams confirms Wimbledon pull out

However, on Saturday afternoon (July 4), Serena confirmed that she would not, in fact, be taking part in the event due to a knee injury.

In a post showing strapping on her knee alongside several syringes of fluid which had been drained from the body part, she wrote: “I’m heartbroken to have to withdraw from doubles. 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, but unfortunately my knee just isn’t ready to compete.

“I’m especially grateful to tournament director Jamie Baker and the entire tournament team for giving me every opportunity to recover. 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…

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