She figures her injured knee “will be old news” by the time the Olympic tennis competition begins Aug. 10.
Williams withdrew from Saturday’s semifinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford after injuring her knee. She said that an MRI exam afterward revealed an inflamed joint.
“I’ve been playing a lot of tennis, that’s basically what it is, a lot of use,” she said Monday. “I haven’t had enough time to train the way I normally do off-court because I’m playing a lot.”
Williams, ranked fifth in the world and seeded second for this week’s East West Bank Classic, received a first-round bye and is scheduled to play her opening match Wednesday against Czech Petra Kvitova.
“I’m taking it day-by-day and I’ll see how I go,” she said. “I’m doing rehab for it three times a day, just to make sure that I’m ready.”
Serena’s older sister, Venus, and Lindsay Davenport already withdrew from Carson because of right knee injuries, making for a rash of knee injuries on the U.S. Olympic team.
Venus has said she plans to play next week’s WTA tournament in Canada before going to Beijing, while Davenport has not indicated her immediate plans.
Serena said a doctor and her father, Richard, recommended that she skip this week’s tournament near her hometown of Compton.
“He’s always passive and I’m more aggressive,” she said about her father. “I’ve been doing really well all year and I’ve been playing a lot. What I want to do is play tennis and play tournaments for this year and several years. I just feel like that’s all I want to do.”
Williams has played nine tournaments this year and won three consecutive titles. She has a 33-5 match record, including a loss to Venus in the Wimbledon final.
That’s in sharp contrast to her previous lower level of activity outside the Grand Slam tournaments.
“I just didn’t want to play as many tournaments because I felt like I just didn’t need to. I think it worked for me,” she said. “I’ve always just played what I wanted to play, regardless.”
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Slide show
More injury woe for Andrade
Totti blow for Roma
Serena injures knee, pulls out of Bank of West
Venus, Lindsay withdraw from SoCal tournament
