Serena Williams withdraws from Swedish Open

Serena Williams can’t defend her Swedish Open title now

No Swedish Delight for Serena

World Number 1, Serena Williams has withdrawn from the upcoming Swedish Open. The American is still down with a virus she picked up during Wimbledon.

The 32-year-old had picked up the virus during the event and was forced to pull out of the doubles match with her sister Venus. The younger Williams decided to pull out after the third game, after serving four succesive double faults. In the singles event, Serena suffered a shock third round loss to 25th seeded Frenchwoman Alize Cornet.

Dismal run of form

She has failed to make it into the last eight of any Grand Slam event this year. At the Australian Open, she lost to 14th seed Ana Ivanovic. At Roland Garros this year, her form was even worse; as the defending champion and World Number 1, Serena looked listless against unseeded Spaniard Garbine Muruguza and was sent packing in the second round. The American continued her dismal run of form as she had no answer to Cornet, falling to her worst Wimbledon performance since 2005.

Can’t defend title

Serena won the Swedish Open last year when she swept away Swede Johana Larrson 6-4 6-1 in straight sets. But the reigning champion will not be there this time around to defend her title.

"I decided not to play in Bastad, because I am still not feeling 100 percent. I want to be in perfect condition to go back on court, but unfortunately it's not the case. I really hope to be able to get back to training from next week," confirmed Serena.

"Bastad was my favourite tournament I played in last year, thus I am very disappointed not to come back there. But there is still next, year, so I can't wait to go back there," added the 17-time Grand Slam champion.

Serena is next scheduled to play at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California, which is scheduled from July 28 to August 3.

The women's events at the Swedish Open will be organized from July 13 to July 20.