Reigning gold medalist Serena Williams ousted from Olympics – USA TODAY

RIO DE JANEIRO — The inexplicable can happen in tennis, but Serena Williams’ performance at the 2016 Olympics will truly go down as one of the biggest head-scratchers of her career.

Spraying errors and piling up double-faults at an uncharacteristic rate, Williams made a stunningly lethargic exit from Rio on Tuesday, losing 6-4, 6-3 to Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the women’s singles Round of 16 in a swift 72 minutes.

Her performance was only slightly longer than her post-match news conference, which she decided not to attend, opting instead for a statement delivered through a Team USA spokesperson.

“Obviously I’m disappointed,” said Williams, who is also out of the doubles draw after she and her sister, Venus, lost in the first round. “The better player won. It was a great opportunity that didn’t work out the way I wanted it to. At least I was able to make Rio, which was one of my goals. It was awesome, but it’s over now.”

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It’s the first time Williams, who won the singles and doubles gold in London four years ago, will walk away from the Olympics without any hardware.

And it was quite the unexpected turn from two months ago when Williams dominated Svitolina, the world’s 20th-ranked player, at the French Open. Williams won 6-1, 6-1 on June 1 to advance to the quarterfinals before eventually falling to Garbine Muguruza in the Finals.

Williams rebounded to win her 22nd career Grand Slam at Wimbledon, tying Steffi Graf for most all-time in the Open Era. But she clearly didn’t carry the same form to the Olympics, as she never looked comfortable on these slow hard courts even in two earlier singles victories.

But it would be hard to blame the court conditions for 36 unforced errors and five double-faults one game after breaking Svitolina to even the second set at 3-3. After Williams meekly dumped a second serve into the net, gifting her a break, the 21-year old Svitolina cruised through the final two games to pick up the biggest win of her career.

Still, Svitolina said she never allowed herself to think about actually beating Williams until match point.

“It was just an unreal feeling, just a relief for me because I didn’t expect even in that moment that I could win,” she said. “And I think it helped me a lot — you don’t expect mistakes from her and just fight and stay focused. Being in the moment, that’s definitely what helped me today, and just relax and go for my shots because I was doing some winners and especially on the second set when it was really, really tight.”

Williams, who turns 35 next month, has struggled with various injuries this season. It’s unclear if she was suffering from any physical problems in Rio, but she certainly didn’t look like herself at any point. Still, few would have predicted this early of an exit, especially given a favorable draw that wouldn’t have put her in the path of any other top-10 player until the gold medal round.

It could turn into an opportunity for another American, 21-year old Madison Keys, who advanced to the quarterfinals with a three-set victory against Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro. It’s also a massive chance for Svitolina, who has not had a particularly strong year on the women’s tour but suddenly finds herself with a legitimate chance to medal for her country.

“I was just thinking stay in the moment and play the ball, don’t play against Serena Williams, Olympic champion and so many grand slams,” she said. “Just play the ball, and go for it and look for (the) ball. To win a gold medal at the Olympics (would) make it so special, and if I can do it it’s just — unreal.”

BEST IMAGES FROM AUG. 9 AT THE OLYMPICS

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