It's the Williams' sisters own fault.
Serena Williams bounced from first round of Family Circle Cup while Venus advances
No. 1-seeded Serena Williams and No. 29-seeded Venus Williams both lost in the second round of the French Open on Wednesday, one match the two were supposed to meet in the third round.
And again, the age-old question of whether the sisters' losses were intentional to avoid meeting on the court rears its ugly head.
At their best, both Serena and Venus are as formidable as any women's tennis champions of their era, which makes any loss they suffer news.
Obviously, Venus hasn't been the same since revealing in 2011 that she suffers from Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disease that saps her energy.
But Serena's 6-2, 6-2 loss to Garbine Muguruza marked her worst defeat ever in a Grand Slam event. She won five games in her previous worst loss.
Couple that with the remarks of Patrick Moratoglou, and the suspicion meter does jump a bit.
"Most of the players in the draw wouldn't have beaten Serena today," Moratoglou said, according to USA TODAY Sports. "She did."
USA TODAY Sports went on to say that Moratoglou said Serena was fine physically but just couldn't find any solutions.
To Muguruza.
It would seem as if there wouldn't be much the 32-year-old Serena hasn't seen or faced on the court and would be able to find another gear - to at least make the match closer. And if most of the players couldn't have beaten Serena on Wednesday, that makes Muguruza a heavy favorite to win the event.
Venus' loss to 56th-ranked Anna Schmiedlova also had some surprising elements to it. Venus won the first set and was up a break when Schmiedlova suddenly won eight of the next nine games to take control of the match.
Venus had been on a new diet this year that had helped her combat the disease and was playing her best tennis in four years. She did lose, however, in the first round of the Australian Open. She also won a tournament in Dubai, defeating Alize Cornet, who had beaten Serena in the semifinals.
"I felt like this was a match that I was most likely going to win," said the seven-time major winner, who has not been past the third round of a Grand Slam since 2011 and won her last major at Wimbledon in 2008, as reported by USA TODAY Sports. "I don't know how Serena felt, but I'm sure she feels like that every time she goes on the court. So I think our expectation was to play in the next round."
Do you get suspicious when Venus and Serena are on pace to meet in a tennis event, only to have one or both of them get upset just prior to their meeting? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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