Serena Williams' Wimbledon preparations suffered a blow on Tuesday as she and doubles partner Karolina Muchova were beaten in the opening round of the Berlin Open.
Williams, the winner of a record 23 Grand Slam singles titles, made a sensational return to the court at Queen's last week at the age of 44 having last played competitively in 2022, but was limited to just one match in London after her playing partner Victoria Mboko suffered an injury after their first-round victory.
The 6-4 6-4 defeat to Giuliana Olmos and Erin Routliffe in Germany on Tuesday came just hours after Williams had been handed a wild card to enter the women's doubles at Wimbledon alongside her sister Venus.
Williams now appears unlikely to play competitively again before Wimbledon begins on June 29, although she could still seek entry to tournaments the week before Wimbledon in Eastbourne or Bad Homburg.
Williams and world No 10 Muchova had the first break point of the match when leading 3-2 in the opening set, but were unable to take it before conceding a crucial break themselves in the following game.
They fell behind at a similar stage in the second set as Mexico's Olmos and New Zealander Routliffe broke for a 3-2 lead.
There was a chance for Williams and Muchova to break back to make it 4-4, but they were once more unable to take it before their opponents closed out the match after 91 minutes of action.
"Honestly, I felt pretty good out there," Williams said in her post-match news conference. "I felt actually more nimble and more sturdy and quicker than the first match in Queen's.
"Yeah, overall, I feel pretty good. Just physically and quickness, which I think you need a lot of quickness on grass."
Williams has won seven Wimbledon singles titles along with six doubles titles alongside older sister Venus, winning their last title on their most recent appearance together a decade ago.
Although she has insisted her focus is on doubles, Williams could still be handed a singles entry into the Wimbledon main draw with one final WTA wild card yet to be announced.
"Oh my gosh, there are some left?" she replied when she was told there was still a singles wildcard spot for Wimbledon. But then she mused about her readiness for it.
"Do you think I'm ready for singles?" she asked a reporter and then turned to Muchova to ask what she thought.
"I think I would be interested in it," the Czech player responded.
"That's the question of the hour, right?" Williams said of playing singles at Wimbledon. "I don't know. I don't know. I wonder why there's - I don't know."
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