Venus honest about failings after defeat

"I just didn't get enough balls in today," she admitted. "I had a lot of opportunities and a lot of short balls but I just seemed to hit each one out. Obviously she played well but I don't think I did anything right today."

Venus committed a horrendous 29 unforced errors and perpetrated five double-faults, statistics which she felt were a big help to Pironkova. "She played solid but if I hadn't contributed to her effort I'm not sure it would have gone so well. I definitely made too many contributions to her. I missed all the shots today; forehand, volley, backhand. If there was a shot to miss, I missed it."

Since Wimbledon is the focus of her playing year after eight appearances in the final since the Millennium she was understandably disappointed. "Not to be able to bring my best tennis and to make that many errors is disappointing. I wasn't overpowered or hit off the court or anything, I just kind of let myself exit. Obviously I'm not pleased but I have to move on. What else can I do? Unless I have a time machine, which I don't.

"I expect a lot from myself, especially at this tournament. When I missed a few shots I was maybe a little too hard on myself. I got too caught up in the mistakes I was making instead of just letting it go and move on."

Venus refuted any suggestions that, at the age of 30, it might be time for her consider whether to give up the sport. "Why wouldn't I want to pursue [tennis]" she asked. "I'm pretty good at it most days.

"I'll give it up when I'm just terrible. It would take more than just a few bad days in a year to make me quit tennis. So that's not even in the equation."

Source: wimbledon.org