By Erik Gudris | Saturday, February 14, 2015
Australian Open champion Serena Williams was the biggest name among several players to withdraw from this week's Dubai WTA event.
Photo Credit: Corleve
World No. 1 and recent Australian Open champion Serena Williams withdrew from the upcoming Dubai Tennis Championships.
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Williams, still suffering from an ongoing respiratory illness, withdrew from the WTA premier event set to start next week. The 33-year-old Williams competed last week for the U.S. in their winning Fed Cup tie against Argentina, but pulled out of her then scheduled second singles rubber due to the same issue.
Venus Williams, Dubai defending champion, when asked about her sister's health in a pre-event press conference said her sister needed to "regroup and feel better". Per the AP, Williams added "It's just very challenging to hit three and four continents in a row. It's a lot when you do all that traveling."
In this video posted by the tournament's Twitter account, Venus Williams talked about coming back to defend her title.
Canada's Eugenie Bouchard, who was given a last-minute wildcard into the event, also withdrew with an arm injury. Dominika Cibulova withdrew as well citing an Achilles injury.
Simona Halep now becomes the event's top seed. Main draw play will commence on Sunday.