Australian Open 2018: Serena Williams withdraws from the first Grand Slam of the year

What's the story?

Former world no. 1, Serena Williams has pulled out of the upcoming Australian Open as she is not at her best after giving birth to her first child. The defending champion expressed that she was 'super close' but is yet to attain the level she wants.

In case you didn't know

Serena holds the record for winning the most number of Grand Slams by a tennis player in the open era with 23 titles to her name. After winning the Australian Open last year, she announced in April that she will be taking a break for a few moths as she was expecting her first child. She returned to court on December 30, 2017 at the World Tennis Championships in Abu Dhabi and lost to Jelena Ostapenko.

The heart of the matter

According to Serena, she is in a position to compete but won't do so as she wants to give herself some more time to come back and make a strong impact.

“I can compete, but I don’t want to just compete, I want to do far better than that and to do so, I will need a little more time. With that being said, and even though I am disappointed about it, I’ve decided not to compete in the Australian Open this year,” said the American.

What's next?

Hopefully, we will see Serena Williams at her prime at the French Open which is still a few months away.

Author's take

Some of the top tennis players are giving the opening Grand Slam of the year a miss. Brit Andy Murray has already pulled out of the tournament along with Japanese Kei Nishikori. Now Serena is the latest to get added to that list. Hopefully, we will see a full attendance of stars in the second Grand Slam of the year.