Defending champion Serena Williams has withdrawn from the 2011 Australian Open. Her foot injury was recently became worse after she went into training, and she had to have more surgery. Her doctors have determined that returning to tennis right now would put her at too much risk.
Williams missed the 2010 U.S. Open because of the injury, which was caused by broken glass when drunken World Cup enthusiasts threw bottles in a Munich restaurant where the former world number 1 was a patron. She recently withdrew from Hopman Cup competition, causing fans to fear that she would also withdraw from Melbourne.
Williams won the Australian Open in both 2009 and 2010.
This will be an interesting major without Serena. Will Henin, Wozniacki or Zvonareva stop Clijsters? Or will there be someone coming out of the blue like at Roland Garros this year? Will Sharapova be ready? Even Jankovic and Ivanovic could be ready. I just talked myself into another "it could be anybody's win" scenario.
ReplyDeleteIf Serena lets her foot completely heal before training I would think she would be back at Roland Garros.
I think it could be any of those women, though I think Clijsters has an edge on the rest of them. Poor Serena--missing two majors in a row.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet they thought her injury was not serious at the time. Boy I tell you.
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