Venus Williams: What Her Exit from Open Means for Her Future

Venus Williams, the 31-year-old American tennis superstar, pulled out of the US Open before her scheduled second-round match earlier today.

The matchup between Williams and her up-and-coming opponent, Sabine Lisicki, was highly anticipated, and the German herself also indicated that she was pumped to play Venus. Both Venus and Lisicki showed up at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center several hours prior to the match (Lisicki actually left her hotel at 6:45 in the morning), and the German believed that her opponent was ready to duel.

Venus' reason for withdrawal and allowing Lisicki a walkover to the third round was her diagnosis with Sjogren's Syndrome, an autoimmune disease that causes fatigue and joint pain. Although this disease is, in fact, treatable, her personal life and ranking will take a tumble because of it.

Sadly, Venus may not play again this year (or maybe ever, but hopefully that isn't the case), and her failure to match her semifinal appearance in last year's Open will perhaps drop her out of the Top 100 in the rankings.

While the other players in the women's field are either happy because they won't have to face her in a match or sad because they enjoy seeing both Williams sisters in action, her exit from the Open was a sad state of affairs for all tennis lovers around the globe.

In a statement released by tournament officials earlier today, Venus stated, "I am thankful I finally have a diagnosis and am now focused on getting better and returning to the court soon."

The American did not play a match in the past two months prior to her first round win over Vesna Dolonts. Illness and injury have kept both Williams sisters from competing for nearly the entire season.

Going forward, Venus must trust that she will return to 100 percent in terms of her health and play. Although the US Open is perhaps the tournament she wanted to win the most to satisfy Americans, she still has a good chance to do well and even win at the Australian Open, Wimbledon (where she has been the queen for the past decade), and next year's Slam in Flushing Meadows.

It would also help her to go far in a few ATP 1000 events to boost her ranking high enough to qualify her for seeding. She proved that she still has the game to do big things in Monday's night match.

With a few beneficial draws and proper care for her body and health, she can get back to her winning ways, and even if she never wins a major again, her resilience and determination would label her a winner in her fans' minds.

It is true that she does not have many years left in the tennis world, but she can fight off her case of Sjogren's Syndrome as well as her critics and doubters.

For more information about Sjogren's Syndrome, click here.

This article was written by Jeff Cohn, a sports writer and enthusiast.