Former world number one Serena Williams has withdrawn from this month’s Australian Open in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
The 36-year-old American last week played her first match since giving birth in September.<\/p>\n
Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam winner and the reigning Australian Open champion, said: “Although I am super close, I’m not where I want to be.”<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Britain’s\u00a0Andy Murray pulled out\u00a0of the tournament, which starts on 15 January.<\/p>\n
Williams was eight weeks pregnant with daughter Olympia when she won her seventh Australian Open title in 2017.<\/p>\n
The world number 22 said: “My coach and team always said ‘only go to tournaments when you are prepared to go all the way’.<\/p>\n
“I can compete – but I don’t want to just compete, I want to do far better than that and to do so, I will need a little more time.<\/p>\n
“The memory of last year’s Open is one that I will carry with me, and Olympia and I look forward to coming back again.”<\/p>\n
Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said: “I’ve been in constant contact with Serena and her team and know this is why she has pushed it and pushed it until the 11th hour to make her final decision.<\/p>\n
“Serena transcends the sport in the way she approaches all aspects of her life. It was never going to be good enough for her to just compete.”<\/p>\n
Williams\u00a0lost an exhibition contest\u00a0against Jelena Ostapenko in Abu Dhabi on 30 December 2017, in her first match since giving birth in September.<\/p>\n
It is the first time since 2011 that Williams has missed the tournament.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, men’s world number four Kei Nishikori withdrew because of a wrist injury.<\/p>\n
There are also doubts over the fitness of Spanish world number one\u00a0Rafael Nadal\u00a0and Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka, who won the title in 2014.<\/p>\n
Serb Novak Djokovic, a six-time Australian Open champion,\u00a0may also miss out\u00a0with an elbow injury.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former world number one Serena Williams has withdrawn from this month’s Australian Open in Melbourne. The 36-year-old American last week played her first match since giving birth in September. Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam winner and the reigning Australian Open champion, said: “Although I am super close, I’m not where I want to be.” On […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":388950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[15240,3529],"yoast_head":"\n