Venus Williams Withdraws From Wimbledon

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 19th June 2013

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

Venus Williams Withdraws From Wimbledon

epa03719116 Venus Williams of the USA in action during her 1st round match against Urszula Radwanska of Poland at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 26 May 2013. EPA/CHRISTOPHE KARABA |

Venus Williams’ unbroken run of 16 bids to win Wimbledon, with five singles and another five doubles titles to show for her labors, will come to an end this year as one the game’s great champions who turned 33 years of age just two days ago ruled herself out of contesting this year’s Championships because of a back injury.

Williams, who revealed she suffers from the auto-immune disease Sjogren’s Syndrome that can cause joint and muscle pain at the US Open nearly two years ago, has not played since withdrawing from the French Open doubles event more than three weeks ago.

“I will not be able to participate in Wimbledon,” Venus revealed to the world on Facebook. “I am extremely disappointed as I have always loved The Championships.

“But I need to take time to let my back heal. I look forward to returning to the courts as soon as possible, with my goal being to return to World Team Tennis on July 8 in Washington DC.”

The decision means Venus will not be able to defend the doubles title she won last year with sister Serena against the Czech pairing of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, a month before the pair collected their third Olympic gold medal together, also on Wimbledon’s Centre Court grass. “Many thanks to my fans for the love and support and I will be seeing you very soon back on the courts,” she concluded.

The Wimbledon singles champion of 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008 contemplated missing the French Open for the second time in three years after pulling out of Mutua Madrid Open but then opted to play, losing in the first round of the singles at Roland Garros to Urszula Radwanska. Previously she had played only one other match during the European clay court season.

She lost first round in Rome to Britain’s Laura Robson. Her last performance of note was reaching the semi-finals at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston during early April. However she did win a Fed Cup rubber against Sweden in Delray Beach later that month where she appears to have sustained the back injury.

Williams is revered as one of the game’s great fighters. After being diagnosed with her illness, she who finished 2011 outside the top 100 but through sheer determination battled back up the rankings and is currently placed no. 34 on the WTA computer, “What I’ve gone through, it’s not easy,” Venus said.

“But I’m strong and I’m a fighter. I don’t think I’m just playing for me now. I think I’m playing for a lot of people who haven’t felt well. I think for me today it’s a positive to be able to play three hours. I’m constantly finding ways to get better and to feel better.

“For me, I would never give up because obviously at some point everyone has to retire. That’s an asterisk, but I feel like I have to give myself a chance to continue working on feeling better. I wouldn’t just give up just because it was difficult. That’s not me. So my thing is that I’m going to continue trying.”