The controversial call that kickstarted Serena's demise

All the attention was on Serena Williams’ ankle following her shocking exit from the Australian Open on Wednesday.

But what was glossed over in the immediate aftermath was the decision that paved the way for the injury – a foot fault on match point.

The first such fault called on Williams in the contest, she was forced into a second serve and rolled her ankle on the ensuing point to doom her campaign.

For her part the 16th seed barely second-guessed the decision, immediately turning to receive a new ball while others debated the call.

“First foot fault of the match… on match point. Really?” the two-time Australian Open finalist Mary Joe Fernandez said in commentary for ESPN.

She added the following game: “It’s hard for me to think that that was the only foot fault of the match and it gets called on a match point.”

Another high-profile American was equally stunned:

It was American tennis coach and commentator Brad Gilbert who hit the crux of the issue, however.

Was it really a foot fault at all?

The limited replays available fail to clear up whether Williams’ foot did touch the white line on the sun-soaked Rod Laver Arena.

Williams didn’t blame the injury for the defeat and never took aim at the linesperson, either.

Yet the foot fault could go down as a bigger ‘what if?’ than the ankle.

Troubled by the injury and surely put off by the foot fault, the 23-time major winner didn’t win another point on her serve.

Serena’s classy response to gut-wrenching defeat

A defiant Serena Williams is adamant she’ll eventually reel in Margaret Court’s all-time record 24 grand slam singles titles despite blowing another golden opportunity at the Australian Open.

Williams squandered four match points and a big-third set lead in a dramatic 6-4 4-6 7-5 quarter-final collapse against Karolina Pliskova on Wednesday.

But unlike her last grand slam loss, when the American’s bitter exchange with the chair umpire at last year’s US Open stole the spotlight from Japanese history-maker Naomi Osaka, Williams was magnanimous in defeat.

The 37-year-old refused to blame either an untimely foot-fault called on her first match point, nor an ankle injury suffered midway through the third set, for her crushing loss.

“My ankle seems to be fine. I usually don’t know until the next day, so I think she just played lights out on match point, literally, hitting lines. Just went crazy,” Williams said.

“I can’t say that I choked on those match points. She literally played her best tennis ever on those shots.”