Knee injury thwarts Venus Williams' participation at the Cleveland Open!

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Venus Williams who was to play the 2023 Cleveland Open has now pulled out of the tournament. The former world no. 1 cited a knee injury as the reason for her inability to compete in the event. The tournament shared a voice message of Williams on their social media channels.

In that, Williams said, Unfortunately, my knee is just not acting right. It's just not supporting me being on the court right now. It's such a bummer... but I'm going to work on myself, try to get myself together, so that way I can be at the (US) Open, and also, hopefully, come and play (Cleveland) next year”.

Earlier, while starting her message, Williams said, “I’m so sorry that I’m not going to be able to make it to Cleveland. I’ve always wanted to play Tennis in the Land since it started, so I was really looking forward to it.

I love the fans in the Midwest. You guys are awesome”. Then, concluding the message, Williams added, “I love you, sending all my love. I’m so sorry. And I’ll see you next time”.

Venus Williams' still pushing her limits

This year, although she’s had quite a few notable appearances in tournaments, Williams’ also been struggling with her right knee.

At Wimbledon, she was in absolute pain in her first-round clash against Elina Svitolina after having sustained a fall during play in the match. Even before that mishap, Williams’ had come onto the court with her knee tightly taped.

Despite these injury concerns, the 43-year-old still proved to be a solid contender in all of her matches. She did win only a couple of matches in these matches but both of those matches were noteworthy in themselves. At the Rothesay Classic in Birmingham, Williams defeated Camila Giorgi in the first round.

Then, at the Canadian Open in Montreal, a couple of weeks ago, the seven-time Grand Slam champion upset 16th seed Veronika Kudermetova in their first-round match-up. At the Cleveland Open, Venus Williams was drawn to play Mirra Andreeva, a player who’s 27 years younger than her.

In 2007, the year Andreeva was born, Williams won the fourth of her five Wimbledon trophies and finished the season with a record of 50 wins and 10 losses. Photo Credit: The Tennis Letter Twitter