There’s a lot of speculation why Serena Williams opted out of the Rogers Cup after getting a wild-card for the tournament and tournament director Eugene Lapierre can only provide us with a variety of probable reasons.
Williams featured in the San Jose Open in the week leading up to this edition of the Rogers Cup, her first competition since her Wimbledon runner-up trophy but was ousted in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0 by Johanna Konta.
She was then tipped to the favourite at the Rogers Cup this week after deciding to take part for the first time since 2015 but decided to withdraw from it for what has been described as personal reasons.
One of the theories postulated by Lapierre is the difficulties that Williams might have had after the birth of her child and the issues associated with bringing up a young child during an important tournament like this.
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He said:
“This is nothing but speculation on my part, but I think it can’t be easy to continue on the circuit every day with a young child. And I saw all the hassle it can take to organize a trip with a whole team. Because we tried to accommodate it as best we could, and everything was in place.”
https://t.co/s2PVSIsFgX pic.twitter.com/tdhIf8zEI8
— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) August 6, 2018
The other reason that he thinks could have played a part in Williams’ withdrawal is her crushing defeat at the hands of Konta. That might not have made her happy with her performance and that dissatisfaction might have pushed her into her withdrawal.
According to Tennis World USA, he said: “It must not be simple, for [Williams] to come back to play, as a mother. She did not have an easy run upon her return to the hard courts. I’m thinking that perhaps she was not satisfied with her level on the practice courts.”
Read: Andy Murray to Miss Rogers Cup
The big question now on everyone’s mind is whether Williams will feature at the Cincinnati Open which will be played next year and the US Open for which she is a favourite to win it. According to Betway.com, Williams is currently 7/2 favourite to win the US Open title, way ahead of the Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber (check latest US Open tips here).
Among the others are Simona Halep (10/1), Garbine Muguruza (14/1), Petra Kvitova (16/1) and Elina Svitolina (16/1), all of whom would consider themselves in with a chance, especially if Williams enters the US Open with form issues hanging over her head.
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