Serena Williams Hopes to be Back by Spring, Drops out of Winter tournaments
Four-time World Number 1 Serena Williams seems to be having a particularly bad year for her career, despite her multiple Grand Slam wins. The tennis player has not played in a tournament since winning Wimbledon and despite scheduling several comebacks, she
has found excuse after excuse to refuse participation in events. Her most recent statement informed the New York Post that she may not be able to make her way back on the court till late in 2011.
Williams, who won the Australian Open and the Wimbledon Championships this year, says, “I hope to be out of the cast and back on the court by spring. I am trying to make the best out of a bad situation.” This announcement was made at Yves Saint Laurent and
Vogue’s fashion party, held in Miami.
Serena Williams has been absent from the tennis courts since she won her 13th Grand Slam title at the grass courts of the All England Club. She has played in a total of six tournaments this year, and has dropped out of numerous events at the last
minute. Her events played this year are the Medibank International where she lost to Elena Dementieva in the title match, the Australian Open in which she defeated comeback player Justine Henin, the Internazionali BNL d’Italia where she was defeated in the
semi finals by Jelena Jankovic as well as the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open during which she was knocked out in the third round. She also lost to Samantha Stosur in the French Open quarterfinals before being crowned Wimbledon queen after defeating Vera Zvonareva.
Serena Williams, who is 29 years old, first sustained the injury after stepping on broken glass in a restaurant in Munich, Germany on the 7th of July. The tennis pro was taken to the hospital, where she received medical attention and stitches
to both her feet. However, the matter did not end here and she was required to undergo surgery in order to repair a cut tendon in her right foot which was causing her toe to droop. This surgery was performed in mid-July in Los Angeles.
When the injury occurred, Serna Williams was ranked World Number 1 on the Women’s Tennis Association ranking. However, the surgery forced her to pull out of the 2010 US Open in New York. Serena had also booked herself for several more tournaments in the
next months, but dropped out of them at the last minute as her foot took an inordinate amount of time to heal. These withdrawals at the eleventh hour caused the organizers of many events to accuse her of unprofessionalism and disorganization.
In October, Serena Williams underwent more surgery on her foot and consequently withdrew from the Australian Open and announced that she would not be returning to tour in the beginning of the year. She was the defending champion at the event, and will be
unable to claim her title yet again. She will also miss a sizeable chunk of the 2011 season, which may even cost her a slot in the Top Ten WTA players. She has already lost her World Number 1 ranking to newcomer Caroline “Sunshine” Wozniacki, and is currently
at World Number 5. Players above her are Vera Zvonareva and Kim Clijsters.
However, the tennis pro refused to let the injury have any effect on her night out at YSL and Vogue’s bash of the year, held in honour of the magazine Evenings in Vogue. She decorated her cast with a series of eye-catching Swarovski crystals, saying, “I
decorated it myself with crystals.”
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