Serena Williams to skip Madrid Open after Ion Tiriac's malicious comments

The Madrid Mutua Open will host the world's leading players between April 29 - May 8, with only one notable name missing from the entry list, the two-time champion Serena Williams.

We could expect the news after the Madrid Open tournament director's comments about the 23-time Major champion, something that goes on for years. Ion Tiriac isn't the biggest fan of Serena Williams.

He proved that again at the beginning of the season in an interview to the Romanian site, mentioning Serena's age and weight and calling her to retire as soon as possible!

Serena finished the previous season just outside the top-10 for the third time in the last four years. Giving birth to a child in 2017, Williams kept her focus on four notable tournaments after she returned, reaching back-to-back finals at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2018 and 2019 for a strong comeback. It wasn't to be for the American, though, after suffering four painful losses.

Despite turning 40 in August, the American is still eager to chase that elusive 24th Major crown, losing in the Australian Open semi-final to Naomi Osaka and hoping for a better run in Paris and London later this year.