Injured Forever? Serena Williams out of Linz
When Serena Williams announced that she would return to the court at Linz for the Generali Ladies event in Austria, there were many fans who dared to hope that this time, she might in fact live up to her commitments, keeping in mind that the American tennis
professional also spoke of participating at the 2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and the China Open in Beijing.
Fans have plenty of reason to be sceptical. Anyone with even a casual connection to the world of tennis is aware of Williams and the latest in her list of controversies, a cut on her foot which has failed to heal despite almost three months of recovery time
after a surgery. Needless to say, there are very few spectators who actually believe in Williams’ excuse, given her track record of unexplainable injuries and her family’s tendency to mask the truth from officials and reporters.
Keeping in mind the above arguments, there are only a handful of fans who are genuinely shocked by the news that Serena Williams has once again withdrawn from her tennis date in Linz, Austria. Williams registered for the Generali Ladies Linz, a small WTA
tour event, on the same day she was eclipsed by 20-year-old Dane Caroline Wozniacki as the World Number 1 on the Women’s Tennis Association rankings. The former World Number 1 joined the event at the last possible minute, with her spokesperson issuing a statement
claiming that it would be good practice for her appearance at the Masters event in Doha, for the year end championships.
Despite her promises and what Williams has lost and will continue to lose with these drop outs, few are genuinely surprised by her last minute withdrawal, with the reason cited as a “physical problem”. Apparently, the younger Williams sister felt some pain
in her foot at her last training session to prepare for Linz on Saturday in Florida. The official report claimed that the pain led her to have a scan taken, which revealed that her foot still hasn’t healed. This allegation becomes more and more dubious when
one considers that Serena Williams had reportedly received the medical seal of approval from her doctors prior to making plans for the tournament. However, all of a sudden, these scans begin to prove that Williams may not have recovered after all. The entire
excuse seems like a poorly concocted, unreasonable method to avoid playing tournaments, although the rationale behind skipping out on events which have cost Williams her World Number 1 position seems even less understandable.
So far, Serena has neither confirmed nor withdrawn from her participation at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow next week. Williams is supposed to have requested a visa, and she reportedly plans to play (however, the Kremlin Cup organisational team has still wisely
refrained from adding her name to the acceptance list). Many sceptics believe that Serena Williams will unmask her refusal to play at Moscow at the 11th hour too, well after the draws have been declared.
Williams’ absence now makes her completely irrelevant for the year end championships to be held at Doha. Meanwhile, the American Fed Cup team has once again been cut down to the players which fought the country through to the final - Melanie Oudin, Bethanie
Mattek-Sands, Liezel Huber - after the team entertained brief hopes of both Williams sisters competing for them against Italy in November, a hope shattered by their twin injuries.
Serbian Ana Ivanovic has been asked to fill in for Serena at the Generali Ladies Linz in Austria.
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