Serena Williams pulls out of the 2022 Australian Open

According to Joshua Lynch of the New York Post on Wednesday, tennis legend Serena Williams has withdrawn from the 2022 Australian Open. Williams is the second grand slam champion to withdraw from the Australian Open this week. Canadian Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ontario, the 2019 United States Open champion, withdrew on Monday for mental and physical health reasons.

Williams, who is a seven-time Australian Open champion, has not played since the first round of Wimbledon when she faced Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus. She was forced to withdraw because of a right hamstring injury and missed the 2021 United States Open too.

In 2021, Williams reached the semifinals of the Yarra Valley Classic in Melbourne, the semifinals of the Australian Open, the second round of the Italian Open, the second round of the Emilia-Romagna Open in Parma, Italy, and the fourth round of the French Open. Williams did not play her semifinal match at the Yarra Valley Classic in Melbourne, and withdrew against world number one Ashleigh Barty of Australia.

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The players to have beaten Williams this year were Naomi Osaka of Japan at the Australian Open, Nadia Podoroska of Argentina at the Italian Open, Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic at the Emilia-Romagna Open, and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan at the French Open. Osaka went on to win the Australian Open. 

However Williams was outstanding in several off her matches in 2021, and beat a few notable players who have gone deep in majors in the past. They include 2010 Wimbledon semifinalist Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria in the third round of the Yarra Valley Classic, (6-1, 6-4), 2019 Australian Open Danielle Collins of the United States in the quarterfinals of the Yarra Valley Classic, (6-2, 4-6, 10-6), Collins again in the third round of the French Open (6-4, 6-4), 2021 Wimbledon and United States Open semifinalist Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the fourth round of the Australian Open (6-4, 2-6, 6-4), and 2018 French Open champion and 2019 Wimbledon champion Simona Halep of Romania in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open (6-3, 6-3).

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