Serena Williams withdraws from French Open clash with Maria Sharapova through injury
The American claims she is in so much pain, she can't even serve the ball
Serena Williams has withdrawn from her fourth-round clash with Maria Sharapova at the French Open through injury.
The 36-year-old American, playing in her first grand slam since giving birth to her daughter in September, said she has a muscle problem.
The showdown with Sharapova was eagerly awaited given the colourful history between the pair, and Williams' dominant record over the Russian of 19 wins to two.
She said: "Unfortunately I've been having some issues with my pec muscle. Right now I can't actually serve so it's actually hard to play when I can't physically serve.
"I'm beyond disappointed. I gave up so much from time with my daughter and time with my family all for this moment. So it's really difficult to be in this situation."
Williams revealed she first felt the injury against third-round opponent Julia Goerges on Saturday, yet she still played doubles with sister Venus on Sunday.
"That's when I started to feel it. I was, like, it was really painful and I didn't know what it was," she added.
"In my doubles yesterday I tried a lot of different tapings, and I tried lots of different types of support to see how it would feel under match circumstance.
"It didn't really get a lot better.
"So I'm going to get an MRI tomorrow. I'm going to stay here and see some of the doctors here, see as many specialists as I can. And I won't know that until I get those results."