London: Former world No, 1 Ana Ivanovic blamed a wrist injury for a surprise first-round defeat to lowly ranked Russian qualifier Ekaterina Alexandrova at the hallowed courts of Wimbledon on Monday.

The Serb became the highest women's seed to perish on Day I, losing 2-6, 5-7 to the 223rd ranked player, playing her first-ever Grand Slam match after coming through qualifiers.

"Yeah, it was very tough," Ivanovic told reporters. "I mean, for two weeks, I've struggled with my right wrist.

"It was very hard to accelerate on my forehand. I tried to do everything possible to be fit and recover and tape it and so on.

"But yeah, it was a little bit sore. I made too many errors because of this."

Ivanovic, seeded 23, reached the quarter finals of the Wimbledon warm-up event in Mallorca this month, but it was there that she started to struggle with her wrist.

"It really got inflamed," Ivanovic, one of nine Grand Slam champions in the women's singles draw, said.

"I had a couple of days off and it started to calm down a little bit. Every time I would start hitting, it would flare up. I felt like I could probably manage it.

"But it's tough on grass when the ball really skids through. She was hitting very well... It was disappointing."

Ivanovic admitted that she had considered pulling out of Wimbledon after the wrist became inflamed. "I think I'm going to take some time off. My next tournament will be the Olympics.

"So hopefully, that will give it enough time to settle down. I hope to do an MRI and see what's going on," she said.