Four-time gold medalist, Venus Williams yesterday crashed out of the Olympic tennis tournament in Rio, losing to Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) in a three-hour centre court marathon.
"She had been ill for a few days with a bad virus. She had an upset stomach and she was coughing up a lot, you could see she was really struggling,' said US captain Mary Jo Fernandez, who faced the media in Williams' place.