American Tennis Venus Williams faces a wrongful death lawsuit from the family of the man, after she was accused by police of being at fault for the collision.
The Former Wimbledon champion broke down in tears as she was questioned by reporters about a Florida car crash in which a man died.
Williams, a five-time singles champion at Wimbledon had secured a 7-6 6-4 victory over Mertens to set up a second-round tie against Wang Qiang of China, who beat Chang Kai-Chen of Taiwan 6-3 6-4.