--- description: The reigning champ lost to the player ranked 20th in the world title: Serena Williams Knocked Out of Olympics in Upset Loss image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d3569d9b6fedc28/6988a1c6f887dc6ac9e9706a/serena-williams.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Sports](/section/sports/) ## Sports Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [tennis](/tag/tennis/) ## tennis Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Serena Williams Knocked Out of Olympics in Upset Loss by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 9, 2016 11:43 PM CUT  Serena Williams of the United States in action against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine during a Women's Singles Third Round match on Day 4 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Tennis Centre on August 9, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Serena Williams of the United States in action against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine during a Women's Singles Third Round match on Day 4 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Tennis Centre on August 9, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Cameron Spencer—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 9, 2016 11:43 PM CUT In a surprise defeat, [Serena Williams](http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/rio-2016/2016/08/09/serena-williams-elina-svitolina-tennis/88492706/ "undefined") missed out on her chance to defend her 2012 gold medal at the Olympics on Tuesday in the Women’s Singles round of 16. Williams lost to Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, who is ranked 20th in the world, in two sets, 6-4, 6-3\. [She](http://time.com/4442378/serena-williams-wins-rio-opener-wimbledon/ "undefined") reportedly struggled in the first set, lost a service game in the second set then broke Svitolina on her next service game, before faltering again with five double-faults, _USA Today_ reports. Serena and her sister Venus have already lost in the Doubles tournament. This is the first time Serena has left the Olympic games with no medal in hand. She won Doubles medals in 2000, 2008 and 2012, and the Singles medal in 2012\. She pulled out of the [2004 games](http://www.edition.cnn.com/2004/SPORT/08/11/tennis.serena/index.html "undefined") due to a knee injury. \[[_USA Today_](http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/rio-2016/2016/08/09/serena-williams-elina-svitolina-tennis/88492706/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4445918/serena-williams-olympics-tennis-elina-svitolina/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4445918/serena-williams-olympics-tennis-elina-svitolina/"},"headline":"Serena Williams Knocked Out of Olympics in Upset Loss","datePublished":"2016-08-09T23:43:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:52:34.045Z","description":"The reigning champ lost to the player ranked 20th in the world","url":"https://time.com/4445918/serena-williams-olympics-tennis-elina-svitolina/","keywords":["tennis"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d3569d9b6fedc28/6988a1c6f887dc6ac9e9706a/serena-williams.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d3569d9b6fedc28/6988a1c6f887dc6ac9e9706a/serena-williams.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tennis - Olympics: Day 4","caption":"Tennis - Olympics: Day 4","creditText":"Cameron Spencer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/tennis/","name":"tennis"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4445918/serena-williams-olympics-tennis-elina-svitolina/","name":"Serena Williams Knocked Out of Olympics in Upset Loss"}}]}] ```