Tennis news - Serena Williams joins Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic in pulling out of Western & Southern Open

ByEurosport

Published 11/08/2021 at 08:24 GMT

Serena Williams joins a growing list of players who have withdrawn from the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Ohio. The tournament is one of the premier competitions on the men and women's tour calendar ahead of the US Open, which gets underway on August 30, but a handful of star players have withdrawn to focus on recovery ahead of the year's final Grand Slam.

Serena Williams has withdrawn from the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati due to injury.

The 39-year-old suffered a leg injury after slipping on Centre Court against Aliaksandra Sasnovich at Wimbledon in June.

Instead of playing in the WTA Premier 5 event, the American will continue to focus on her recovery.

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The 23-time Grand Slam champion said in a statement: "Unfortunately, I will not be playing in the Western & Southern Open next week as I am still in recovery from my leg injury at Wimbledon.

I will miss all of my fans in Cincinnati whom I look forward to seeing every summer. I plan to be back on the court very soon.

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Serena's sister Venus has also pulled out for an undisclosed reason, while 2019 semi-finalist Sofia Kenin withdrew on Tuesday with a foot injury.

“Unfortunately I had to make the difficult decision to withdraw from the Western & Southern Open next week," Kenin said in a statement.

"I am rehabbing well in hopes to play the US Open later this month. I feel another week of recovery is necessary. I want to thank the USTA for all their efforts in holding the event during such challenging times. Best of luck to all the players."

On the men's side, Roger Federer has pulled out with a knee injury while world number one and two-time Cincinnati champion Novak Djokovic has withdrawn in order to focus on preparing for the US Open.

The W&S Open have issued wild cards to numerous players. Jenson Brooksby, Brandon Nakashima, Frances Tiafoe, Bernada Pera, Samantha Stosur and Jil Teichmann have all been awarded wild cards.

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