Venus Williams on ending 2023 season after US Open: “Difficult to play tennis when you have the swelling cycle” – Sportskeeda
Venus Williams recently explained her decision to end her 2023 season right after the US Open.
Williams made a comeback to the WTA Tour in June this year after being sidelined for nearly five months due to a hamstring injury. Her first tournament after returning was the Libema Open, where she was eliminated in the first round. It was followed by a second-round loss to Jelena Ostapenko at the Birmingham Classic.
The American then competed at Wimbledon, where she lost in the first round against Elina Svitolina in her historic 24th appearance on Centre Court. She also slipped and injured her already bandaged right knee.
Williams returned nearly a month later at the Canadian Open but was defeated in the first round by Madison Keys. She then took part in the Cincinnati Open and faced an early exit. The seven-time Major champion finally decided to end her 2023 campaign after an opening-round loss against qualifier Greet Minnen at the US Open.
Venus Williams recently posted a video to her YouTube channel in which she discussed cutting her season short after her Home Slam. She recalled her Wimbledon injury nightmare and stated that she wanted to heal her knee, which is why she decided not to play any longer.
“I went to Wimbledon and sadly slipped in the third game of the match and really got injured. I spent the whole summer pretty injured with my knee, like really struggling with it,” Williams said.
“I didn’t want to miss US Open, made it there, but definitely not my best performance after so much time off after Wimbledon. So, I decided not to play anymore the rest of the year and just give my knee a chance to heal,” she added.
The 43-year-old added that a painful knee swelling cycle made it difficult for her to play tennis.
“What was super interesting is once I just sat down, I felt better, I would say,” Venus Williams said. “After the Open, I would say maybe like four weeks later I got up, I remember it was a Sunday and I got up and I was like ‘Oh my god! I’m not in pain’.”
“Just like pain from sitting around, like my knee hurts, my knee is swelling every day. It’s very difficult to play tennis or any sport when you have like the swelling cycle, when your body won’t stop swelling,” she added.