Serena Williams has suffered her first defeat since her long comeback to tennis earlier this month. Erin Routliffe and Giuliana Olmos defeated the American and Karolina Muchova 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the Berlin Open. This result comes just hours after Wimbledon officially confirmed the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion’s return.

Serena and Venus Williams have earned wildcards for the women’s doubles draw at SW19. Although that’s good news for Serena as she will get to play at the Grand Slam alongside her sister once again, she must be feeling extremely disappointed about getting knocked out in the first round in the German capital.

When Serena announced Muchova as her partner for the Berlin Open, expectations were high. Muchova is a strong serve-and-volleyer, and her tactical and effective style of play suits the grass courts. However, the duo has fallen at the first hurdle itself despite putting in a solid performance on the court.

Much like the HSBC Championships, Serena was treated to a thunderdous round of applause as she made her way to the court at Steffi Graf Stadion. Both the pairs made a strong start to the match and held their serves in the opening few games of the first set. However, Serena faltered on her second turn to serve as Routliffe and Olmos clinched the first break of the match. The pair would then serve out the set to take a vital lead.

A thing that fans noticed during the match was that Serena was surprisingly playing on the left side of the court. The American usually plays on the right when it comes to doubles and had done the same at the HSBC Championships last week. However, it seemed as if she was trying a different strategy this time around.

The next set proved to be pretty similar as both the pairs started well, but Serena and Muchova once again failed to keep a hold of their serve. It was the Czech who lost her serve midway during the set, helping Routliffe and Olmos take the lead.

Though Serena and Muchova pushed their opponents to deuce on multiple occasions, the experienced pair managed to pull through at the end. They went on to defend four break points and eventually served out the match, wrapping things up in 91 minutes. This result meant a lot for Routliffe as she and Nicole Melichar-Martinez had recently been defeated 7-6, 6-2 by Serena and Victoria Mboko at the Queen’s Club.

This was likely Serena’s final prep before Wimbledon that will commence from June 29. The last time she had played doubles at the Grand Slam was back in 2016. It was in this edition that the Williams sisters had won the doubles title for the sixth time at the SW19.

While Serena may well be done with her match-practice before Wimbledon, Venus will be in action later this week. However, unlike her little sister, she won’t be playing doubles.

Venus Williams set to play first grass event since 2023

The 45-year-old is set to participate at the upcoming Bad Homburg Open which will commence from June 21. She was among the three players to be handed wildcards for the tournament. The other two entries include Alexandra Eala and Eva Lys.

This will be the first time since the 2023 Wimbledon Championships that Venus will be in action at the grass swing. However, the draw won’t be easy as top-ranked players like Mirra Andreeva, Iga Swiatek and Elina Svitolina are all expected to participate in the event.

Unlike Serena, Venus has been fairly active in singles this season. However, she is yet to record her first win of the year and has lost seven consecutive matches. Her last singles appearance had come at the Madrid Open in April, where she had suffered a 6-4, 6-2 defeat to Kaitlin Quevedo in the first round.

Will Venus’ fortunes change at the Bad Homburg Open, or will she fail to move past the first round once again? We will have to wait and see.