US Open: Serena Williams does not take part in the Grand Slam tournament either

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Serena Williams at the US Open last year

Photo:

Seth Wenig / AP

The long-time tennis world number one Serena Williams has canceled her participation in the US Open starting on Monday (August 30th to September 12th).

The 39-year-old American announced via Instagram that she was following the advice of her doctors and first wanted to completely heal a tear in the hamstring muscles.

Serena Williams suffered the injury in her first-round match at Wimbledon almost two months ago.

By not doing this, the chances of the current 22nd world rankings decrease.

continued to win the 24th Grand Slam title of her career.

This would set the record of the Australian Margaret Court.

Most recently, the former number one won a title in one of the four most important tournaments at the Australian Open in early 2017.

Serena Williams, who will be 40 years old in one month, won the US Open six times.

Due to her cancellation, another big name is missing from the tournament.

In the men's event, the record-breaking Grand Slam tournament winners Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and the Austrian defending champion Dominic Thiem are not there.

The renunciation of the tennis legends also marks a turning point: For the first time since 1997, Serena Williams, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will be absent from a Grand Slam tournament at the same time.

Williams, Federer and Nadal have dominated their sport for two decades.

Together they come to an unbelievable 63 Grand Slam titles.

Federer and Williams each led the world rankings for more than 300 weeks.

Nadal is the only professional who has won the same Grand Slam tournament 13 times (French Open).

It is more than questionable whether the trio will be able to pick up on old achievements at all.

Both Williams, who will celebrate her 40th birthday in a few weeks, and Federer, who turned 40 in August, have been struggling with stubborn injuries for a long time.

Nadal's condition is also a mystery.

The Spaniard will not return to the court this year.

bam / dpa