SPORTS

Venus Williams ousted at French Open

Associated Press
Michel Euler Associated Press Venus Williams screams after missing a return against Urszula Radwanska in their first-round match at the French Open at Roland Garros stadium in Paris on Sunday.

PARIS | Grimacing after some poor shots, leaning forward with hands on knees while catching her breath after others, Venus Williams left the French Open after the first round for the first time since 2001.

Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam champion and a former No. 1-ranked player seeded 30th at Roland Garros, felt hampered by a bad back, had problems with her serve - all sorts of strokes, actually - and lost 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 6-4 Sunday to 40th-ranked Urszula Radwanska of Poland, who never has been past the second round of a major tournament.

Inflammation in her lower back limited Williams to two matches over the previous 1½ months, preparation she called, with a chuckle, "extremely unideal."

"I can't really serve very hard. It's painful when I do that. But I'm getting better. I just, you know, ran out of time to get better for this tournament," said Williams, broken 11 of the 17 times she served Sunday.

Her quick exit came a year after she lost in the second round at Roland Garros to Radwanska's older sister, Agnieszka, the 2012 Wimbledon runner-up.

"Yeah, of course, I was talking with Aga about Venus," Urszula said. "I was well-prepared for this match, and I knew she was a great fighter, so I should be focused the whole match."

Williams' younger sister, Serena, who owns 15 Grand Slam titles, made a fluent return to the clay-court tournament in the early afternoon Sunday, overwhelming 74th-ranked Anna Tatishvili 6-0, 6-1.

Venus, 32 and still learning to live with an energy-sapping autoimmune disease, now has two first-round losses in the past four Grand Slam tournaments. Her defeat at Wimbledon last June was the first time she'd left a major championship that early since she lost in the first round of the Australian Open 6½ years earlier.

"With what I've gone through, it's not easy. But I'm strong, and I'm a fighter. You know, I don't think I'm just playing for me now. I think I'm playing for a lot of people who haven't felt well," Venus said. "I think for me today it's a positive to be able to play three hours. I'm constantly finding ways to get better and to feel better."

The only other seeded player to lose on Day 1 was No. 11 Nadia Petrova of Russia, who was defeated by Monica Puig of Puerto Rico 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.