Serena Williams withdrew from the Wimbledon doubles match where she was scheduled to play with her sister Venus, citing a knee injury.<\/p>\n
“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,” she\u00a0wrote<\/a> on Instagram Saturday.<\/p>\n “I did everything I could to be ready, but unfortunately my knee just isn’t ready to compete.”\u00a0<\/p>\n The 44-year-old Williams\u00a0recently returned to competition<\/a>\u00a0after nearly four years away from professional tennis.<\/p>\n Williams lost her singles match at Wimbledon to 20-year-old Maya Joint in the first round after accepting a wild card invitation<\/a>. She had accepted an earlier wild card invitation for the doubles competition<\/a>\u00a0with her older sister Venus.<\/p>\n Venus, who has still been competing sporadically, turned 46 in June.\u00a0<\/p>\n Serena won 14 Grand Slams in doubles, all with Venus, and six of them at Wimbledon. The sisters last played a doubles match at the 2022 U.S. Open.\u00a0 They\u00a0lost their opening match<\/a>\u00a0against the Czech pair of Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova. That was the first time they’d played doubles together in 4-1\/2 years.<\/p>\n Williams also won 23 Grand Slam titles in singles, including seven at Wimbledon.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Associated Press<\/p>\n contributed to this report.\n <\/p>\n