Serena Williams Makes Decision on Competing in 2021 Tokyo Olympics

Serena Williams has made a decision on competing in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, which start next month. On Sunday during her pre-Wimbledon media conference, the 39-year-old tennis star confirmed she will not take part in the Tokyo Games.

“I’m actually not on the Olympic list – not that I’m aware of. If so, then I shouldn’t be on it,” Williams told reporters. Williams already said she didn’t want to travel to Tokyo since she couldn’t take her three-year-old daughter Olympia with her due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Since 2000, Williams has played in every Summer Olympics.

“There’s a lot of reasons that I made my Olympic decision. I don’t feel like going into them today. Maybe another day. Sorry,” Williams added. In the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Williams won the gold medal in doubles competition with her sister Venus Williams. The duo won gold again at the Beijing Games in 2008 and in the Lonon Games in 2012. Serena Williams also won gold in 2012 for the singles competition. She didn’t win a medal in 2016.

Shortly after making the announcement, Williams was forced to exit Wimbledon after suffering an injury. During her first-round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Williams suffered an ankle injury after slipping on Centre Court. After exiting the court, Williams returned 10 minutes later but was very emotional and had to call it quits due to the severity of the injury.

Williams was looking to win her eighth Wimbledon title and her first since 2016. She was also looking to win her first grand slam title since 2017 when she won the Australian Open. Currently, Williams is the eighth-ranked tennis player in the world, but 2021 has been challenging for her. At the start of the year, Williams lost to Namoi Osaka in the semifinals and got really emotional when the crowd gave an ovation. In the French Open, Williams lost in the fourth round.

The question for Williams now is will she compete in the US Open which will start on August 30? But another question that comes to mind is when is retirement around the corner for Williams? “One thing I’m really good at is just to not really even engage so much but I do feel like people are wondering if I’m playing,” she said back in May. “And I have to say I always am, you just don’t see it. I don’t show what I do. I don’t always show my cards.”