Serena withdraws from US Open due to unhealed hamstring
Qatar Tribune
NYT New York Serena Williams withdrew from the US Open on Wednesday, extending her latest break from tennis, the sport she once dominated. âAfter careful c...
NYTNew YorkSerena Williams withdrew from the US Open on Wednesday, extending her latest break from tennis, the sport she once dominated.âAfter careful consideration and following the advice of my doctors and medical team, I have decided to withdraw from the US Open to allow my body to heal completely from a torn hamstring,â she wrote on Instagram. âNew York is one of the most exciting cities in the world and one of my favorite places to play â Iâll miss seeing the fans but will be cheering everyone on from afar. Thank you for your continued support and love. Iâll see you soon.âWilliams, who is ranked 22nd on the WTA Tour at age 39, has not played on tour since retiring in the first set of her first-round match at Wimbledon on June 29 because of an injured right hamstring. She was in tears as she shook the hand of her opponent, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, and she stumbled as she exited Centre Court, receiving assistance to reach the clubhouse.She skipped last weekâs Western & Southern Open near Cincinnati to allow herself more time to recover and said in a statement that she planned âto be back on the court very soon.âBut she could not recover in time to play at the US Open, where she has won six singles titles, including her first Grand Slam singles title in 1999 as a teenager. The 2021 tournament begins Monday in New York.Patrick Mouratoglou, Williamsâ coach, said on Wednesday that the entire team knew right away that being ready for the US Open would be a challenge, given the severity of the injury. He said that if the tournament were in three or four weeks she would most likely be able to compete, but that the risk of long-term damage competing now was too great.âWe tried everything,â Mouratoglou said in an interview. âShe did everything she could.âWilliams last missed the US Open in 2017 when she was taking an extended break from the sport because of the birth of her daughter, Olympia. She returned to the tour in March 2018. She had participated in every Grand Slam event that had been held since her return.She lost the 2018 US Open final to Naomi Osaka of Japan and the 2019 U.S. Open final to Bianca Andreescu of Canada. Last year, when the tournament was held without spectators because of the coronavirus pandemic, she lost in the semifinals to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in three sets.Mouratoglou said Williams had a magnetic resonance imaging scan 10 days ago.âIt showed that her injury had partially healed, but not totally, and in a way that was very insufficient for her to be able to move,â he said in an interview with Tennis Majors, a website in which both he and Williams are investors. âWhen you are 20 days away from a major tournament and you havenât sprinted for five or six weeks, you know that you are off to a bad start.âMouratoglou said he had traveled to Florida to join Williams and the rest of her team several weeks ago.âShe did all she could do: daily therapy and the fitness training she could manage in order to lose as little time as possible,â he said. âAt one point, she could hit the ball without moving, really not moving. That lasted two weeks. Last week, she started a bit of restricted movement, but with pain that made it clear she could not move like a normal tennis player. We did our best to not overload her leg. But despite all of that, she is not able to run today. If she runs with pain, that means there is a real danger of aggravating the injury. That also means she canât train at 100%. But the most important thing is not that she isnât ready but that if she plays, she is risking her future.âWilliamsâ announcement leaves the U.S. Open without three of the sportâs biggest stars. Roger Federer, 40, and Rafael Nadal, 35, have withdrawn and ended their 2021 seasons because of injuries. This is the first time since 1997 â nearly a quarter-century ago â that the US Open â or any Grand Slam tournament â will be played without at least one of the three.End of an era? It certainly appears that way, although Martina Navratilova, the former No. 1 who is now a Tennis Channel analyst, believes it might not mark the end of all three playersâ triumphs on the court.âI think Rafa has a much better chance of getting healthy, and heâs younger also,â Navratilova said Wednesday. âIf the foot heals up, heâll be good to go. But with Roger and Serena, I think theyâll still play. I donât think we will never see them play a match again, but I just donât know what level they can get to.âWilliams, like Federer and Nadal, is one of the greatest champions in tennis history. She has often overpowered the opposition with her intimidating serve and returns. But her chances of winning a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title appear increasingly slim. She will turn 40 next month, and her ranking has slipped out of the top 20.âSerena has won 23 majors, period, end of story,â Navratilova said. âSheâs still Serena. I donât think winning 24 makes her any greater. The fact sheâs trying is to be commended. The people saying she shouldnât have tried because sheâs just hurting her legacy, they are full of it. My goodness. The only people who never fail are the ones that never try.âNavratilova won her ninth and final Wimbledon singles title in 1990 at age 33 but played on until she was 49, winning the mixed doubles title with Bob Bryan at the 2006 U.S. Open.âI won my last Wimbledon on bad knees, and I wish I had gotten them fixed sooner, just like Iâm sure Serena wishes she had gotten the hamstring taken care of sooner,â she said. âWhen the body doesnât let you do what you know you can do thatâs the most frustrating thing. If youâre just not good enough you can accept that, but when your body is kind of sabotaging you, that is a heartbreak.âWilliamsâ future in the game remains unclear. She returned to the tour after childbirth with the goal of winning more major singles titles and surpassing Margaret Courtâs longstanding record of 24. Williams last won a Grand Slam title in January 2017 at the Australian Open, defeating her sister Venus. Her only tournament title in the past 4 1/2 years came in a lower-tier event in Auckland, New Zealand, in January 2020. She will fall out of the top 40 when the rankings are updated after the U.S. Open and will most likely not be seeded if she returns for the 2022 Australian Open.Mouratoglou said that there had been no discussion about retirement and that he would probably speak about the future with his star player in a few weeks.âShe still wants to play and still loves to play,â Mouratoglou said.More Related News