Venus Williams’ illness pulls her out of WTA Auckland event – Tennis Special
Former world number one, Venus Williams of the United States, has announced that she will not be playing the upcoming WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) tournament in Auckland, New Zealand. The illness of seven-time Grand Slam champion
has taken a huge toll out of her physical fitness in the past few months and she is in no position to make a comeback to the professional tennis circuit at present.
Venus is still suffering from Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disease, sidelining her from playing professional tennis for most of the 2011 WTA season. She had committed to take off her 2012 campaign from the WTA event in Auckland
but announced on Monday that she is not physically fit to be part of the event. The ASB Classic tournament will be played from third to eighth of January on the hard courts of ASB Tennis Centre and is a vital stop in the preparation for the year’s first Grand
Slam tournament, the Australian open.
Richard Palmer, the tournament director of ASB Classic, was extremely disappointed on Venus’ withdrawal from the event. He believes that with Venus pulling out of the ASB Classic, the level of competition at the tournament will
certainly fall.
“We are disappointed to have lost a player of her caliber,” Palmer said to the news reporters. "While withdrawals of this nature are part and parcel of sport, we sincerely feel for the fans who will also be disappointed by the
news of Venus’ withdrawal.”
The 31-year-old American is still one of the most feared tennis competitor on all sorts of surfaces and her presence on the court certainly put a number of top class performers under pressure. Venus’ power hitting and aggressive
game play is one of its own kinds. The American has ruled the WTA world for a number of years but her inconsistent fitness and form has sidelined her for the most parts of the last two seasons.
Venus took off the 2011 WTA season as the world number five but played merely 11 matches in the entire year to fall to the 102nd spot by the end of the circuit. She stood victorious in eight matches, while suffered defeats
on three occurrences to finish off the 2011 season without bagging a championship title.
The 31-year-old played her opening match of the current year at the Australian Open but was eliminated in the third round at the hands of Andrea Petkovic. She was the quarter-finalist at Eastbourne, losing to Daniela Hantuchova,
before she made her return to the grassy courts of Wimbledon later that month. She made it to the fourth round before losing to Tsvetana Pironkova in straight sets to end her Wimbledon campaign. Venus’ last appearance of the 2011 WTA season was at the US Open,
where she pulled out of the second round clash against Sabine Lisicki due to her illness.
Venus’ participation at the ASB Classic was seen as her first step to make her comeback in the professional circuit. It was anticipated that Venus would get warmed up by taking part in the WTA event in Auckland and get herself
ready for the Australian Open campaign. The American veteran’s announcement of not playing the tournament has also raised a question that whether she will be fit for playing the Grand Slam Down Under or not? It is difficult to speculate at the moment but all
the tennis fans know that Venus has an amazing habit of making strong comebacks out of injury at the Grand Slam tournaments.
Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in the article are the writer’s own personal views and have nothing to do with bettor.com’s editorial policy
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