Serena Williams Withdraws from 2018 Rogers Cup Because of Personal Reasons

Serena Williams will not participate in this year's Rogers Cup, set to start on Monday, as she withdrew for personal reasons.

Sportsnet's Caroline Cameron reported the news:

The 36-year-old had been handed a wild card for the tournament, which she has won three times in her long career. Her last title came in 2013, when she beat Sorana Cirstea.

Williams returned to tennis earlier this year following the birth of her daughter and has struggled with consistency. She made the final at Wimbledon, losing to Angelique Kerber, but her preparations for the U.S. Open have not gone smoothly.

At the 2018 Silicon Valley Classic earlier this week, Williams didn't look herself and lost to Johanna Konta:

Her withdrawal from the Rogers Cup means she's scheduled to appear in just a single tournament before traveling to Flushing Meadows, per tennis writer Ash Marshall:

But that may not be such a bad thing for Williams, who picked a lighter schedule this year. Counter to conventional wisdom, she didn't play a host of lawn tournaments to prepare for the switch from clay to grass, but it didn't slow her down at Wimbledon, where she played some of her best tennis this year.

A similar approach to the hard courts of the U.S. Open could well work. Williams has won her home Grand Slam six times, and another win at Flushing Meadows will undoubtedly be one of her main goals for this year.