SERENA Williams woke today to accusations of gamesmanship in her dramatic victory over Daniela Hantuchova.
Those of us who witnessed her collapse on Centre Court and attended her subsequent press conference were left in no doubt about Serena’s injury.
To suggest – as the BBC has done – that she might have been putting it on flies in the face of all the evidence.
Former Wimbledon champion Michael Sitch, working here for BBC Radio Five Live, said he felt Serena made the most of her injury.
“I thought she was overreacting a little much, which she tends to do, having this injury.
“Not saying she wasn’t in pain or anything.
“But for me, it was like, when you’re injured, you get up, it hurts, you get treatment.
“Either you keep on playing or not. But there’s nothing inbetween being injured or not being injured.
“I always feel like you either play or you don’t.”
There was some later nonsense when Serena asked the umpire for a toilet break.
But that’s a different argument.
Due to play top seed Justine Henin in tomorrow’s quarter finals, I suspect we haven’t heard the last of this latest Serena drama.
“I had a very bad acute muscle spasm in my left calf,” she told us last night.
“Acute, as you know, is a really intense pain. I think I was crying at one point.”
Serena was asked what kind of advice she got from the doctor when she went in for treatment.
“I got a lot of advice, cos it could be more serious than I think – he thought it could be more serious till we get some scans on it.
“He was worried about me ruining the future, potentially.
“But at the same time, once we got everything in order, it looked pretty good.”
There was a real insight into the mind of a top champion at the press conference.
After the rain break, Serena lost the second set tie break and continued to limp in the third, until her calf warmed up.
“I just decided at one point, it was over and I was going to die trying.”
Understandably, Daniela wasn’t in the best of moods, having lost a match she should have won.
“In the third set, I don’t think there was anything wrong at all,” she said of Serena. “I think she was moving very well.
“I don’t think there can be too much wrong when you serve 120 miles an hour.”
But Daniela did not doubt Serena had been injured.
“I did really feel sorry because it didn’t look very nice.
“She really looked like she was struggling a lot.”
And her assessment of the match? “I think I lost it. I think I had my chances.”
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With more heavy showers forecast later today, the rain is starting to cause serious concern at Wimbledon.
Play has been disrupted on every single day so far, bar one, with the schedule of matches significantly behind where it should be.
Former Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian has protested about Wimbledon taking a rest day on Sunday, when the sun was shining.
The overall attendance so far is 11,381 down on last year.
And at 8.30am today there were just 950 people in the north and south daily queues, meaning all would get either a Centre or No 1 Court ticket if they wanted one.
Serena Agony