Serena Williams retired during her Hopman Cup match in Perth on Tuesday, completing a day of injuries and upsets for the leading women’s players less than two weeks from the Australian Open.
Advertisement
However, the World No. 1 is still scheduled in action on Tuesday as U.S. take on Australia Gold and she is scheduled to face Jarmila Wolfe first up.
The problem sidelined her for much of the latter part of 2015 and she withdrew from the United States’ opening tie on Monday, citing inflammation of the left knee after a practice session.
Williams went an incredible 53-3 a year ago, picking up five titles – including three grand slams – to easily maintain her status as the world’s No. 1 ranked player.
Williams hasn’t ruled out the possibility of fronting up for America’s final Hopman Cup tie against the Czech Republic on Thursday night.
“Every opportunity I have I embrace it on a whole new level”.
Williams withdrew from her Hopman Cup opener against Elina Svitolina on Monday.
“The first set today I thought how I look forward to playing and realised that my level is really good…it’s really encouraging”, she said.
Williams was lured to the Hopman Cup as its major drawcard, but she only managed less than an hour on court.
She will be hopeful of more opportunities ahead of the year’s first grand slam, the Australian Open in Melbourne which begins later this month.
The six-time Australian Open champion said she’s focusing on regaining confidence in her movement.
In November, Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou revealed the American star is managing a similar injury to that which has hampered Rafael Nadal in the past.
Meanwhile, former world number one Victoria Azarenka demolished Russia’s Elena Vesnina at the Brisbane International yesterday to set up a second-round showdown with top seed Simona Halep.
“It’s a bit unfortunate as you don’t get to play Serena very often and this tournament is made for it. I hope her knee gets better”.
Advertisement
Among the men progressing in Brisbane were No. 6 David Goffin, who beat Thomaz Bellucci 6-4, 6-4, and No. 8 Dominic Thiem, who held off local James Duckworth 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
