Reigning Australian Open champion Serena Williams has made the tough call to withdraw from this year’s tournament, saying her current performance isn’t quite up to her world-dominating standards.
In a statement, the Grand Slam GOAT said “after competing in Abu Dhabi I realised that although I am super close, I’m not where I personally want to be.”
Citing a philosophy of ‘only the best is good enough’, Williams said “I don’t want to just compete, I want to do far better than that and to do so, I will need a little more time.
“With that being said, and even though I am disappointed about it, I’ve decided not to compete in the Australian Open this year.”
The absolute baller said she had fond memories of her last trip Down Under, and that her and daughter Olympia will return.
Williams, who was pregnant with Olympia during her awesome 2017 tournament, gave birth to the little one on September 1.
The 36-year-old returned to the court late last month in an exhibition match loss to French Open champ Jelena Ostapenko, and had long voiced her desire to play in Melbourne again.
Next time, legend.
