Serena Williams didn’t make it to the court in USA’s opening Hopman Cup tie against Ukraine and retired when she was a set down against Jarmila Wolfe of Australia, and know she’s decided to pull out of the event, leaving her place in the team to Victoria Duval.
“I just have some inflammation that’s been going away very slowly. It’s going away but it just needs a little more time. I’ve been training really hard during the off-season. Really pushing myself beyond the limits. I just think a day or two will make a world of difference”, were the words of a disappointed yet upbeat Williams on her exit from Perth.
With the Australian Open just twelve days away, it really is a race against the clock for the world number one to find her full fitness. Her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, revealed this week that she had been having injections in her knees every six months because of the wear and tear to her cartilages. The inflamation to her left knee could be the consequence of her last injection taking place last week.
“It’s important now to take the right decisions, because it’s not only the Australian Open that’s important, it’s all the preparations you do beforehand. Serena has to be able to run and do everything that’s necessary to be ready, which she cannot do at the moment because of the inflammation”, said Mouratoglou.
The two questions facing Serena Williams therefore are whether she can make it in time to the Australian Open and, equally as important, what conditions she can compete in. All will be revealed in a couple of weeks.
