The 2013 Australian Open Women's Singles finals is less than 24 hours away and Serena Williams will not be participating in the grand slam bout. Why? Sloanes Stephens took advantage of an injured Williams in the quarterfinals of their matchup. As Williams continues to age, will injuries quicken her plans of retirement?
The sight wasn't pretty as Williams hunched over in pain after making a play at the net.
Though the play isn't seen in the video, at 3:33 you can see Williams in pain holding her back. From here on, it was all Stephens. The 19-year-old took advantage of the injured Williams, held her composure and eliminiated Williams from contention.
When healthy, Williams was the most dominant female tennis player on the courts. She wrapped up 2012 with the final two grand slam titles, two gold medals and she won the WTA at Istanbul this year.
Many thought it would be Williams and Victoria Azarenka in the finals, but that's not the case. Well, Azarenka is in, but Williams will be watching from her home in France.
Here's what her right foot looked like following her first round ankle injury and reaggravations during the Women's Doubles and Stephens matches.
At first, it looks like the photograph was taken at a weird angle, but no, that's her ankle swollen. The image was all over ESPN on Thursday.
Now, ankles are a nightmare, but athletes go through it all the time. A little bit of ice, treatment and rest cures that in weeks, maybe months.
However, Williams fans have to be careful with her back. She caught spasms so bad, they made her immobile. If you look at the clip once again, at one point, everything Williams hit was with the support of her upper body.
We have seen athletes in different sports suffer back injuries that have completely changed their game. Prime example is Dwight Howard of the Los Angeles Lakers. He's still not 100 percent healthy from back surgery over the summer and the Lakers are suffering.
Towards the end of the match, we see Williams come back and play strong Serena Williams tennis, but it was too late. Stephens had taken control of the match.
In a post conference interview she said these were the worst two weeks of competition ever. If problems persist and injuries slow her down, will she be willing to remain in the game as a player who can't get past the quarterfinals? Adrenaline can only take her so far in a tournament.
Williams has her sister, Venus Williams, as an example of what she might become in the sport of tennis if injuries persist. Venus suffered from tendinitis on both wrists and hasn't won a grand slam title since 2008. Venus has also skipped a few grand slam tournaments like the 2000 Australian Open and 2003 U.S. Open due to injuries.
With stars like Stephens and Azarenka on the rise, if injuries persist, do you think it's time for Serena to call it quits?
Let's start talking. Leave your thoughts and opinions in the discussion section at the bottome of the site.
