With unfortunate symmetry, retirement from injury salvaged one all-time great’s chances at the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world and doomed another’s.

Roger Federer and Serena Williams, both 39 and in the twilight of their dazzling careers, found themselves on opposite sides of fortune’s wheel Tuesday on the rain-slicked grass of Wimbledon. Federer moved into the second round when France’s Adrian Mannarino suffered an untimely slip late in their seesaw Centre Court contest, whereas Williams made a tearful exit after her stumble in the match immediately following.

“This is obviously terrible because it’s back-to-back matches and it hits Serena as well,” Federer said afterward. “Oh my God, I can’t believe it.”

Williams, a seven-time Wimbledon singles champion, was aiming for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam event singles title on a surface that suits her fast, aggressive game. But it was also a surface that undid her Tuesday evening, under the closed Centre Court roof, when she lost her footing while returning a shot to Belarussian player Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 27.

Her right leg clearly bothering her, Williams lost the game, took a medical timeout and tried to soldier on through several more points. At 3-all and behind a point on her service, the American star conceded to injury and a British crowd that has not always embraced her so warmly in the past, during her most dominant years, showered her with applause and admiration.

“Feeling the extraordinary warmth and support of the crowd today when I walked on — and off — the court meant the world to me,” Williams said in a statement afterward.

She had already revealed just before the tournament began that she would not be playing in the Tokyo Olympics for undisclosed reasons — possibly because she would not be allowed to bring her young daughter along because of coronavirus protocols. Now she’ll need to use the time to nurse her injury and prepare for a last shot at Slam glory in 2021 at the U.S. Open in two months’ time.

Federer’s hopes of adding a ninth Wimbledon singles trophy to his collection remained alive, if decidedly shaky, after a performance Tuesday that offered flashes of the genius fans have swooned over throughout his long career but also a series of mistimed forehands, sprayed first serves and other unwelcome errors.

The standing ovation from fans who treat him like a hometown hero, sometimes even over their real hometown heroes, seemed to buoy him through the first set, which he won 6-4 by finally breaking Mannarino’s serve after botching several previous opportunities. The 33-year-old Frenchman was unfazed, taking the second set in a tiebreak and then the third. Murmurs over a potentially monumental upset swept through the crowd.

But the deficit seemed to loosen something in the Swiss maestro, who began swinging more freely.