Bethanie Mattek-Sands Suffers Serious Knee Injury at Wimbledon 2017

American tennis player Bethanie Mattek-Sands appeared to suffer a major knee injury Thursday during her second-round singles match against Sorana Cirstea at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships.

Jill Martin‏ of CNN noted the top-ranked doubles player in the world was in "serious pain." Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog provided further details about the incident:

Ben Rothenberg‏ of the New York Times reported a stretcher was needed to take her off the court.

Mattek-Sands, who's ranked 103rd in singles, scored a three-set victory over Magda Linette in the opening round.

She split the first two sets with Cirstea on Thursday, winning the first set 6-4 and losing the second in a tiebreaker, before being forced to retire with the injury.

The 32-year-old five-time major doubles champion, who also owns two mixed doubles Grand Slam titles, was the top seed in the ladies' doubles tournament alongside partner Lucie Safarova. They dispatched the American tandem of Jennifer Brady and Alison Riske in Round 1.

Stuart Fraser of The Times pointed out Safarova arrived to the court after learning of the injury:

Mattek-Sands previously suffered a torn MCL in her right knee in September 2013. No further information about the extent of the current injury was immediately released.