Venus has played only one tournament in the past seven months, and has decided against entering any events in the next few weeks. Serena has had emergency treatment to remove a blood clot from her lung.
Venus, who completed just two matches at January’s Australian Open before retiring after a few points of her third-round match because of an abdominal injury, did not play in Miami because of the same condition.
Though she is entered in the clay-court tournament at Madrid’s Caja Magica that starts in late April, and then to play at Rome’s Foro Italico the week after, her name was added automatically to the lists as they are mandatory events, so that is no indication that she actually intends to play in Spain or Italy.
Serena is also having to deal with a freak foot injury that was sustained when she stepped on some broken glass in a restaurant in Munich last July. She has not played any competitive tennis since winning Wimbledon.
Since the start of the Millennium, there has only been one Wimbledon final that did not feature at least one of the Williams sisters, which was in 2006 when France’s Amelie Mauresmo defeated Justine Henin of Belgium.
Executives at the women’s tour must be feeling increasingly concerned about the futures of the sisters, as Venus turns 31 in June and Serena starts her thirties in September. When the ranking list is updated next Monday morning, both sisters will be outside the top 10.
The sisters have always tended to play a light schedule outside the grand slams, but it has now reached the extraordinary situation that the last four tournaments that Venus has played have been the last four majors. So it is now around 10 months since she played a tournament that was not a slam.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/williamssisters/8414543/Williams-sisters-on-course-to-miss-Wimbledon-as-injuries-start-to-add-up.html
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