Not even GOATs know it all. 23-time Grand Slam winner and seven-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams is one of the greatest players in the history of the game. When it come to tennis, she's been there, done it, got the t-shirt and won the titles.
But even she was not aware of one particular rule and found out the hard way during a match at The All England Club in 2019. The incident occurred during the American's 6-2 6-2 win over Carla Saurez Navarro on Court 1. It was a routine victory that served up a unique moment when Serena broke an unusual rule and forfeited a point.
In the seventh game of the first set, Williams leaned over the net to hit a volley and was immediately penalised by the umpire who awarded the point to Navarro. "[My racquet] was definitely over but I thought that was OK?" Serena asked. However, according to the ITF's rule 24, a player loses a point if "the player hits the ball before it has passed the net" - which is why the umpire correctly gave the point to Navarro.
"I definitely didn't realise it was a rule," Williams admitted afterwards. "But I absolutely did have my hand over, so she definitely made the right call. I feel like I may have done that before like in doubles.
"I'm glad [that it got called] because I don't want to make that mistake in our 'Murena' [the nickname for her doubles partnership with Andy Murray ] doubles match. I'm glad that happened here." "I don't think about it.
I guess it should be on your side of the court," she went on wh.
