Serena Williams withdraws from Hopman Cup with knee problem

Serena Williams of the USA is examined by medical staff for a knee injury before retiring injured against Jamila Wolfe of the Australia Gold team during their sixth session women’s singles match on day three of the Hopman Cup tennis tournament in Perth on January 5, 2016.

The world No1 practiced ahead of her scheduled season-opener for the United States team against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the worldwide mixed team competition at Perth Arena, but withdrew citing knee inflammation.

“It’s such a pleasure to come here and I couldn’t wait to play my first match”, she said. “(Because of) inflammation in my knee I need to rest”.

After winning the Australian, French and Wimbledon titles in 2015, Williams had two months off after the U.S. Open, where she narrowly missed completing a season Grand Slam by losing to Roberta Vinci in the semifinals.

“When I got here (to Perth) I got sick, so I was trying to catch up”, Wolfe said. “I’ve been training really hard during the off-season, really pushing myself beyond the limits”, she said.

Patrick Mouratoglou, Williams’ coach, revealed afterwards that she has been having injections in her knees every six months because of the wear and tear to her cartilages.

In Ukraine’s first appearance at the event since being runner-up in 1995, world No. 36 Dolgopolov gave his country two wins from as many ties with his victory over the Czech Republic’s Jiri Vesely.

Sharapova was the defending champion in Brisbane but pulled out prior to her opening match because of an arm problem while top seed Halep is still struggling with a niggling Achilles injury. “What I know for sure is that I don’t want to play her at the Australian Open in the early rounds”.

The former US Open champion recovered from 0-3 down in the final set to record a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Slovakian qualifier Jana Cepelova to begin her always intense Australian summer in positive style.

“Of course we’re going to say hi and talk about her new earrings (before the match)”.

“So that’s a much bigger advantage for her. That’s why I think she can play longer”.

Sharapova was joined on the sidelines in Brisbane by Romanian world No. 2 Halep later yesterday, who blamed a left leg injury for her decision to pull out.