MELBOURNE, Australia – Serena Williams withdrew from an Australian Open prep tournament due to an injury to her right shoulder on Friday hours after preparing for the semifinal against top-ranked Ash Barty.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion doesn’t usually play in a tournament the week before a Grand Slam event, but he made an exception before last year’s US Open and this Australian Open because of all the disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic. -19.
The 39-year-old American was playing her first tournament since she retired from the French Open before her second round departure because of an injury to her Achilles tendon in October. She, like all players traveling to Australia for the tournament, was quarantined for 14 days and had limited practice during that time.
With the first major competition of the year starting on Monday, Williams may be resting better.
She had three wins in the Yarra Valley Classic – one of six tournaments in Melbourne Park this week – culminating in a 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 victory in the tie over Danielle Collins on Friday.
The withdrawal came after her post-game press conference – when she made no reference to any issues – so no full explanation was offered.
This means that Barty will have an easy victory in the final and will also have some rest on Saturday.
There were 70 games in the game order on Friday, an expanded program a day after all matches in six tournaments were postponed so that 160 players and 507 people in total could isolate themselves and pass tests because an employee at a hotel quarantine returned a positive test. Tennis Australia said all tests were negative.
To speed things up a little bit at the end of the tournament, 17 courts were being used and women’s matches were reduced to two regular sets with a 10-point tiebreaker, if necessary.
Williams and Barty had to play the tiebreaker – Barty beat Shelby Rogers 7-5, 2-6, 10-4.
Before retiring, Williams said he was looking forward to the semifinals.
“It is definitely a good opportunity to see where I am going against the current No. 1, this is very important for me,” said Williams. “Obviously I think for her, too, to see where she is going against my game.
“It’s been 12 long months. Tennis has been played, but not really, so … I hope this will be like a new year, where things will be different.”
Garbine Muguruza defeated current Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-2 6-2 to advance to the semifinals, reversing the result of the 2020 final in Melbourne Park. Then she will play No. 8 Marketa Vondrousova.