Former top-ranked Venus Williams has reportedly opted to skip the rest of the 2013 season. The seven-time Grand Slam champion showed signs of progress in the past few weeks which saw her reaching the semifinals of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. However, the American lost her opening round match at the recently concluded China Open.
Williams was considering on defending the Premier-level Luxembourg Open which starts next week but decided that she won’t be doing so as well.
The 33-year old tennis superstar has been dealing with back injury this season, as well as her ongoing autoimmune disease Sjögren’s syndrome. She’s ranked number 38th in the world but will lose significant ranking points for not going to defend the title in Luxembourg. She’s expected not to get any seeding for the 2014 Australian Open.
