"My knee is swelling every day": Venus Williams opens up on decision to end season at US Open after persistent injuries

Venus Williams explained her decision to end the season after the 2023 US Open, where she fell in the first round to Greet Minnen (1-6, 1-6). The American had participated in several consecutive weeks of the WTA Tour, with three tournaments during the grass season and then three more during the hardcourt swing in the US Open Series.

The 7-times Grand Slam champion accumulated a 3-7 record, including a notable victory in the first round of the Cincinnati Open against the world No. 17 at that time, Veronika Kudermetova. At the age of 43, she secured her first win over a top-20 player since 2019, demonstrating that she still has the level to compete at the highest level.

In a recent video on her YouTube channel, Venus Williams mentioned that she decided to end her season after the last Grand Slam of the year to take care of her physical condition, particularly her knee, which suffered an injury at Wimbledon during the first round against Elina Svitolina: "I went to Wimbledon and sadly slipped in the third game of the match and really got injured. I spent the whole summer pretty injured with my knee, really struggling with it," Williams said.

The former world No. 1 acknowledged that the time off after Wimbledon didn't allow her to reach the US Open at her best, and it took her several weeks to physically recover after the tournament: "I didn't want to miss the US Open, made it there, but definitely not my best performance after so much time off after Wimbledon. So, I decided not to play anymore for the rest of the year and just give my knee a chance to heal," she added.

"What was super interesting is once I just sat down, I felt better, I would say," Venus Williams said. "After the Open, I would say maybe like four weeks later I got up, I remember it was a Sunday and I got up and I was like 'Oh my god! I'm not in pain'."

Williams also commented on how challenging it is to practice any sport when you are not in good physical condition: "Just like pain from sitting around, like my knee hurts, my knee is swelling every day. It's very difficult to play tennis or any sport when you have the swelling cycle, when your body won't stop swelling," she added.