Serena Williams pulls out of French Open due to injury ahead of round-two match

The 23-time grand slam champion came into the tournament nursing an Achilles injury she picked up during her semi-final defeat at the US Open earlier this month.

Williams said: “After I warmed up – it was a very short warm-up – I talked to my coach and I was like, ‘What do you think?’ We both thought about it and we really realised that it likely wasn’t the best for me to play today.

“I love playing in Paris, I really wanted to give an effort here. My Achilles didn’t have time to properly heal. I’m struggling to walk so that’s kind of a tell-tale sign that I should try to recover.”

Williams estimated she needs four to six weeks to recover, which is likely to mean the end of her season.

She was sluggish during the first set of her first-round victory over Kristie Ahn but won the second set to love and there was no indication afterwards that she was considering her future in the tournament.

The 39-year-old will now focus on trying to get in peak shape for the Australian Open in January, when she will continue her pursuit of a record-equalling 24th grand slam title.

Williams added: “This is not a nagging injury, this is an acute injury. I feel like my body is doing really, really well and I just ran into bad timing and bad luck in New York.

“I always give 100 per cent, and everyone knows that. Maybe even more than 100 if that’s possible and I take solace in that. I think Achilles is a real injury that you don’t want to play with because that is not good if it gets worse. I think it’s one of the worst so I don’t want it to get to that point.”

Pironkova, who gave Williams a tough time in the quarter-finals in New York, will take on either Barbora Strycova or Barbora Krejcikova in the third round.