Serena Williams has announced that she is withdrawing from next week’s WTA Finals. In an announcement on the WTA facebook page, Serena said that she was “bummed” not to be able to compete in Singapore because of shoulder problems.
“It’s been a really tough year for me, dealing with these shoulder injuries,” Serena says in the announcement. “My doctor insists that I stay home and heal it.”
“I only have wonderful memories of playing in Singapore and I will really miss my fans. I want to wish everyone a great time and I hope it will be an amazing tournament – it always is.”
It is the second year in a row that Serena has been forced to withdraw from the season-ending Finals because of injury. In September, she announced that she would be missing both Wuhan and Beijing in a bid to be fit for Singapore.
The 22-time Major winner has only played eight tournaments in 2016, and was replaced at world No.1 after the US Open.
The American’s withdrawal has opened up the eighth qualification spot for the Singapore event, now providing chances to Britain’s Johanna Konta, Spain’s Carla Suárez Navarro and Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova. Either Suárez Navarro or Kuznetsova must win the title in Moscow at the VTB Kremlin Cup next week in order to edge out Konta for the eighth and final qualifying spot.
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