Serena Williams announced that she has pulled out of this year's US Open because she is still recovering from surgery to repair cuts on her right foot. "It is with much frustration and deep sadness that I am having to pull out of the US Open," Williams said on Friday.
"My doctors have advised against my playing so that my foot can heal." Williams was reportedly hurt by a broken glass at a restaurant while she was in Munich in July and later underwent surgery in Los Angeles to repair the damage.
The 28-year-old American has won 13 Grand Slams titles, including three at the US Open, but in 2009 she lost in the US Open semi-finals. The current world number one has participated in the last 16 major tournaments; the last one she missed was Wimbledon in 2006.
Williams won her first Grand Slam singles championship at the 1999 US Open and also won at Flushing Meadows in 2002 and 2008. She was fined $82,000 in 2009 at the US Open for an outburst directed at a lineswoman during a semi-final match against Kim Clijsters.
It was a profanity-laced tirade in which Williams approached the official in what tournament director Jim Curley called at the time "a threatening manner". Both of Williams’ titles this season came at major championships: the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
"We regret that Serena Williams is unable to play the US Open and wish her a speedy recovery," Curley said. "She will be missed, but the tournament is about the competition and the players on the court."