Serena Williams said she will not go to the Tokyo Olympics, but did not want to say why during her pre-Wimbledon video conference with reporters Sunday.
"I'm actually not on the Olympic list. ... Not that I'm aware of. If so, then I shouldn't be on it," Williams said.
The 39-year-old Williams has won four gold medals at past Summer Games for the United States: in both singles and doubles at the 2012 London Olympics which held the tennis competition at the All England Club and in doubles at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and 2008 Beijing Olympics.
All of her doubles golds were won with her older sister, Venus, as her partner.
At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, Serena Williams lost in the third round of singles to Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and the siblings were beaten in the first round of doubles. Before that, they had been 15-0 as an Olympic doubles team.
"There's a lot of reasons that I made my Olympic decision, Williams said Sunday, the day before the start of main-draw action at Wimbledon, where she will try to collect her 24th Grand Slam singles title. I don't really want to I don't feel like going into them today. Maybe another day. Sorry.
Asked what it will be like to sit out the Summer Games, Williams replied: "I have not thought about it. In the past, it's been a wonderful place for me. I really haven't thought about it, so I'm going to keep not thinking about it."
Other top tennis players such as Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem also have said they'll skip the trip to Japan, where the Olympics open on July 23, a year after being postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Roger Federer said Saturday he hasn't decided whether to participate in the Tokyo Games and will figure that out after he sees how things go at Wimbledon.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor