Serena Williams officially withdraws from the Australian Open

Serena Williams dipped her toe back into the tennis competition pool with an exhibition match in Abu Dhabi last weekend, facing young upstart Jelena Ostapenko and losing in her first public match since giving birth to daughter Olympia in early September.

Since it was only an exhibition, not much could be taken away from the match itself, as Serena clearly just wanted to get back on the court and see where her fitness was before making further decisions about which upcoming tournaments she would or wouldn’t enter. Not to mention, the third set was a super-tiebreaker rather than a real set, so you can’t actually deduce how she would have fared in a full match.

However, there was something to be taken away from her postmatch comments:

“I don’t think I am going to rate my performance. I have plenty of comebacks, from injuries, from surgeries, but I’ve never had a comeback after actually giving birth to a human being. So, in my eyes, I feel it was a wonderful, wonderful match for me.”

”I don’t know if I am totally ready to come back on the tour yet. I know that when I come back I definitely want to be competing for championships,” Williams said. “I am definitely looking forward to getting back out there. I am taking it one day at a time. I am going to assess everything with my team before deciding.”

It wasn’t a confident, forward-looking assessment of the match from Serena, and while she didn’t (and still doesn’t) owe anything to fans or the media as far as being 100 percent open about her thought process at all times, it didn’t inspire much confidence that she was ready to go full bore into the Australian Open in only a few weeks time.

Those comments, combined with the fact that she was already scheduled to speak at a conference in Florida during the tournament, and things weren’t looking good for those hoping she would return to Melbourne to defend her 2017 Australian Open title.

She confirmed that she would be staying home from the tournament in a Snapchat post on Thursday, saying, “I’m not where I personally want to be” and that she is “disappointed” to have to make this announcement.

She also makes sure to note that she is planning on coming back to the tournament in the future, just in case you were worried this might spell the beginning of the end for the younger Williams sister’s career. Just because her comeback isn’t on track for Australia doesn’t mean it’s not happening at all, of course.

Serena isn’t the only top star to make this announcement leading up to the year’s first Slam, as Andy Murray and Kei Nishikori have both pulled out of the draw, as well. Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, Victoria Azarenka, Rafael Nadal, and most recent Slam winner, Sloane Stephens, are also dealing with injuries or personal issues that could preclude them from competing. If another few people drop out before the tournament kicks off, the field will be wide open for a new or surprise champion.

Since she is not choosing to defend her title at the Open, Serena will now return to the tour (whenever that may be) with no points to defend and no ranking. That means, similar to some of her previous comebacks, that she will have to work her way up from the bottom when she begins to re-enter tournaments. Even if she receives wild cards to enter top competitions, she’ll be facing low-ranked players and in some cases playing more rounds than usual in each draw.

The Australian Open might seem a little less appealing without the 23-time Grand Slam winner involved in the draw, but tennis hasn’t been a snooze with her out. In fact, it has minted some new stars in Stephens and Garbine Muguruza on the women’s side since she’s been gone.

It’s a shame that she won’t return to the courts to kick off the year of tennis, though, and every fan is hoping this Serena drought comes to an end ASAP. But her making a comeback when she feels she is ready will be that much more entertaining to watch when it does happen.