Serena Williams has withdrawn from the upcoming US Open, while citing ongoing injury as the reason for her decision.

The 40-year-old hasn’t competed since her early exit from Wimbledon. Williams during her first-round match opposite Aliaksandra Sasnovich, slipped and fell on the grass, leaving her hamstring torn and the star in tears.

The Grand Slam champion broke the news to her fans on Instagram, explaining that the withdrawal will hopefully give her body the required time and space to heal completely. Williams said she’d miss the cheering fans in New York, which she describes as one of her favourite places in the world to play.

2021 has been a challenging year for Williams. After a positive start at the Australian Open at the beginning of the year, she had managed to reach four finals and one semi-final across five appearances. But injury had other plans for how it would all pan out, with Williams clearly still suffering heavily under the force of injury.

Since Williams has not been able to defend the points accrued during the 2019 Wimbledon final, she may very well soon fall out of the top 40 on the points ladder. By the time the next Grand Slam event Williams is likely to play rolls around, being next year’s Australian Open, it will have been five years since her last running for a Grand Slam title.

Since both Federer and Nadal have also withdrawn from this year’s US Open, the 2021 edition of the event will be the first Grand Slam competition without any of the leading three since 1997.

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