Pretty much as expected, new mom Serena Williams has announced that she will miss her title defense at the 2018 Australian Open, saying that she can compete, but she doesn’t want to just compete, she wants to do far better than that and at this moment it’s not possible.
Even though Nike created stunning white and gold kicks for her Melbourne appearance, the American will skip the tournament for the first time since 2011. Williams says she’s super close, but still not where she wants to be. A week ago she played her first match since giving birth to daughter Alexis Olympia, the Mubadala World Tennis Championship (MWTC) exhibition in Abu Dhabi, and she lost to Jelena Ostapenko.
Williams, who was eight weeks pregnant when she lifted the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup in 2017, said:
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.
Even though a month ago Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley tried to assure us that Williams would be ready, it’s understandable that four and a half months after giving birth is not a long enough period for a woman to be able to compete at a Grand Slam, at such a high level that’s expected from a legend that Serena is.
she will probably be back for Indian Wells 2018
Dull, I read on BBC that Miami could be her first tournament in 2018.
Serena, take as much time as you need. I would not be surprised if her first tournament back is the US Open, and I am not so sure that she actually may retire. I am certainly glad at the last minute I decided not to include her in my 2018 end of year top 10. 🙂
Jim, don’t say it so early. Serena doesn’t need many tournaments to enter the Top 10 🙂