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Serena Williams insisted she wasn't shocked by her stunning Wimbledon exit against Sabine Lisicki because she knew the big-serving German was a major threat to her title defence.
The world number one's 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 defeat brought an end to her 34-match winning run and shattered her bid for a sixth Wimbledon crown.
Williams put a brave face on becoming the latest star to crash
out at this year's Wimbledon. "For me any loss is extremely tough to overcome. I probably couldn't be more disappointed," Serena said.
"But I don't think it's a huge shock. She is a great player. She should be ranked higher. She just has a super game, especially on grass. I feel like I had an extremely tough draw. Of all the last 16 matches I probably had the toughest one.
Since an embarrassing first round loss against Virginie Razzano
at last year's French Open, Williams had simply been unstoppable,
winning 77 of her 80 matches and collecting the Wimbledon, US Open,
French Open and Olympic titles in the process.
With Wimbledon brought to a premature conclusion, Williams will take time to fine-tune her game before setting her sights on the American hard-court season, which climaxes with the US Open.
Wimbledon results on Monday, the seventh day of the 2013
tournament (x denotes seeded player):
Men's
4th rd
Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) bt Tommy Haas (GER x13) 6-1, 6-4, 7-6
(7/4)
Tomas Berdych (CZE x7) bt Bernard Tomic (AUS) 7-6 (7/4), 6-7
(5/7), 6-4, 6-4
David Ferrer (ESP x4) bt Ivan Dodig (CRO) 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (8/6),
6-1, 6-1
Juan Martín Del Potro (ARG x8) bt Andreas Seppi (ITA x23) 6-4,
7-6 (7/2), 6-3
Lukasz Kubot (POL) bt Adrian Mannarino (FRA) 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3,
6-4
Jerzy Janowicz (POL x24) bt Jurgen Melzer (AUT) 3-6, 7-6 (7/1),
6-4, 4-6, 6-4
Fernando Verdasco (ESP) bt Kenny De Schepper (FRA) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
Andy Murray (GBR x2) bt Mikhail Youzhny (RUS x20) 6-4, 7-6
(7/5), 6-1
