Season over for injured Serena Williams
Serena Williams has confirmed she will miss the remainder of the 2010 season, with the world No. 2 withdrawing from the WTA Tour Championships in Doha as a result of ongoing injury problems.
"It is with deep frustration that I am withdrawing from the WTA Championships at Doha and the Fed Cup Final," Williams said in a statement published on the WTA website.
"Pushed by my desire to return to competition, I trained too hard too soon and re-tore the tendon in my foot. As a result, yesterday morning I had to have another procedure to repair it.”
Williams’ announcement that her season is now over sees her join a lengthening list of former world No. 1’s on the sidelines for the rest of 2010, with the likes of sister Venus, comeback queen Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova and Dinara Safina in bringing down the curtains on their respective seasons.
Like Henin, Serena has not played a tournament since Wimbledon, where after defending her title she stepped on broken glass in a restaurant, injuring her foot and missing the US Open.
In her absence, Caroline Wozniacki’s title-winning streak on the WTA Tour saw the 20-year-old usurp Serena as the world No. 1 – that feat achieved when the Dane reached the quarter-finals of the China Open in Beijing (a tournament she went on to win) – despite the fact Wozniacki is yet to triumph at a Grand Slam.
It was ample motivation for Williams to get back to competition as soon as possible, and it didn’t take long for the 29-year-old to announce she would be returning to play in the Generali Ladies Linz in Austria between October 11th and 17th.
With equal speed, that decision was reversed, with Williams announcing soon before the tournament commenced that she had re-strained her foot and that “I am likely out for the year now”.
That likelihood has now become a certainty, and Serena is now guaranteed to lose the 1500 ranking points she gained for winning in Doha last year (where she defeated Venus in the final), widening the points gap between her and the newly anointed world No. 1.
Williams finishes 2010 having playing just six tournaments for the season, including successful title defences at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
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