43 Grand Slam winners Roger Federer & Serena Williams suffer shocking defeats on same day

Tennis icon Roger Federer's return to the clay court after 712 days turned out to be a forgettable one as he went down to Spain's Pablo Andújar  6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in Geneva Open 2021 Round of 16 match on Tuesday. 

Federer's loss was particularly shocking given it marks his first defeat on home soil in seven-and-a-half years. In fact, the Swiss sensation had made his comeback to the tennis court in March this year where he had participated in the Qatar Open 2021 in Doha. However, his comeback was not up to the mark as he crashed out in the quarterfinals. 

The 20-time Grand Slam winner had staged a comeback after being out of action for more than a year as he underwent two knee surgeries. He also ended up missing this year's Australian Open where one of his fierce rivals Novak Djokovic went on to successfully retain his title and win it for a record ninth time. 

Due to Roger's prolonged absence from the game, he has slipped down to the eighth spot in the Men's Tennis ATP Rankings 2021.

Serena Williams loses in straight sets 

If Roger Federer's loss was a bitter pill to swallow for the die-hard tennis fans, they were in for an absolute shocker as 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams' disappointing return to tennis continued when she lost in straight sets to 68th-ranked Katerina Siniakova in the second round of the Emilia-Romagna Open in a span of less than an hour after the former's bitter defeat.

Top-seeded Williams, who accepted a wild-card invitation for the Parma tournament after losing her opening match at the Italian Open last week, was beaten 7-6 (4), 6-2.

She had beaten teenage qualifier Lisa Pigato 6-3, 6-2 in the previous round for her first victory since defeating Simona Halep in the Australian Open quarterfinals in February. After some time off, Williams then lost in straight sets in Rome to Nadia Podoroska.

The future Hall of Famers of the game would be hoping to make amends in the upcoming French Open that gets underway on May 24. In the second week of April, the French Tennis Federation (FFT)  had announced that it was postponing the iconic Roland-Garros tournament by a week. The FFT, in a press release, said that the tournament will now take place from May 24 to June 13. FFT said that the qualification rounds will be held from May 24 to May 28, followed by a final draw from May 30 to June 13. This comes in the wake of the COVID-19 restrictions in France that the French tennis federation is hoping to be eased by the end of May.