PARIS • Serena Williams withdrew from the French Open yesterday as her bid for a 24th Grand Slam title suffered another blow, sparking further doubts over the 39-year-old's long-term future in the sport.

Williams, a three-time champion in Paris, had arrived at the tournament carrying an Achilles tendon injury which she suffered in a gruelling US Open semi-final defeat by Victoria Azarenka.

"The Achilles didn't have enough time to heal after the US Open," said the American, who had been due to face Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova in the second round.

"I was struggling to walk and that is a tell-tale sign that I should try to recover."

Later, Dutch fifth seed Kiki Bertens was accused of faking injury as she was taken off court in a wheelchair after a stormy win over former finalist Sara Errani.

She triumphed 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 9-7 in a 3hr 11min clash which left her in cramps and Italian Errani screaming an obscenity as she stomped off Court 14, having also appeared to mock her opponent's injury.

Williams' injury likely means she will miss the rest of the season, leaving the Australian Open next January as her next chance to equal Margaret Court's all-time Slam singles record.

"I need four to six weeks of sitting and doing nothing," she added. "It's more than likely that I won't play another tournament this year."

Williams, now into her fourth decade on tour, has not won a Slam since capturing a seventh Australian Open in 2017 when she was pregnant. After returning from giving birth, she reached the finals of Wimbledon and the US Open in 2018 and last year.

This year, she fell in three sets in the fourth round in Australia to China's Wang Qiang while the cancellation of Wimbledon was another roadblock.

She will leave Paris knowing full well that such a disrupted season represented her best opportunity to add to her Majors haul.

In New York, six of the world's top players opted not to play.

At Roland Garros, four of the leading 10 are missing - world No. 1 and defending champion Ashleigh Barty, US Open winner Naomi Osaka, 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu as well as Swiss No. 10 Belinda Bencic.

However, it would take a lot to convince Williams to call time on her ground-breaking career having overcome more serious hurdles than an Achilles injury in her time.

In 2011, a pulmonary embolism caused a clot in her lung. "I was on my death bed at one point - quite literally," she said at the time.

Seven years later, she revealed she had another close encounter with her own mortality when giving birth. "I almost died after giving birth to my daughter, Olympia," she said after undergoing an emergency caesarean section.

Yesterday, Williams gave no indication that she was on the brink of retirement from a career that has brought her 73 titles, US$93.5 million (S$164.3 million) in prize money and a 23-Slam singles haul which started in 1999 with the first of her six US Open crowns.

Azarenka's unhappy campaign also ended as the former world No. 1 was beaten 6-2 6-2 by Slovakia's Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.

The Belarusian, who moaned about the cold and damp conditions in her opening-round win, capitulated in feeble fashion against her 161st-ranked opponent.

Top seed Simona Halep appears well set for a tilt at a third Grand Slam after beating fellow Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3, 6-4.

In the men's draw, defending champion Rafael Nadal's quest for a record-extending 13th French Open title continued with a 6-1, 6-0, 6-3 win over Mackenzie McDonald.

US Open champion Dominic Thiem, last year's runner-up, beat Jack Sock 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6).

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

FRENCH OPEN

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