Serena Williams withdraws from U.S. Open due to injury

Serena Williams won’t be gracing the courts at Flushing Meadows next week.

In an Instagram post, Williams revealed that she’s withdrawn from the U.S. Open so she can continue healing from a torn hamstring:

“After careful consideration and following the advice of my doctors and medical team, I have decided to withdraw from the U.S. Open to allow my body to heal completely from a torn hamstring.

“New York is one of the most exciting cities in the world and one of my favorite places to play — I’ll miss seeing the fans but will be cheering everyone on from afar.

“Thank you for your continued support and love. I’ll see you soon.”

Williams, 39, tore her hamstring during her first-round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich at Wimbledon. She wasn’t able to make it through the rest of the match and hasn’t participated in a tournament since, including the Tokyo Olympics. In the comments of the Instagram post, Williams’ longtime coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, wrote, “You have tried everything.”

Williams has always excelled at the U.S. Open. It’s where she won her first Grand Slam title in 1999, and she’d go on to win it another five times. She’s also been to the finals four times, most recently in 2018 and 2019. She won her last U.S. Open title in 2014.

This is another setback on Williams’ quest to tie Margaret Court’s 24 Grand Slam titles. She won her last Grand Slam in 2017, and since then has made it to two Wimbledon finals and two U.S. Open finals. Williams was unable to take the win all four times and has remained stuck at 23. While 23 is an Open Era record, it’s not the kind of history Williams wants to make.

The U.S. Open is the last Grand Slam on the calendar, so Williams will have the rest of the year to recover before the Australian Open in January.

Source: Liz Roscher

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