Venus Williams has pulled out of the tournament in Kuala Lumpur, which begins on Monday, TENNIS.com has learned. During the first weekend of February, Williams played her first match since the U.S. Open, partnering Liezel Huber in a Fed Cup dead-rubber doubles victory against Belarus. She is contending with Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disease, and said at Fed Cup that her immediate plans were to go back to Florida and train.
Yesterday, the 31-year-old received a wild card into Miami, which starts the week of March 20. Currently ranked No. 135, she has also entered the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, to be played on March 31-April 8.
Venus has said that her main goal this year is to play the London Olympics, but the cutoff date is the day after Roland Garros, and she will have to be ranked in the Top 56 to automatically qualify. If not, she will have to request a wild card, which could prove difficult if the maximum of four U.S. women in singles are ranked ahead of her though Venus is the defending doubles gold medal champion (with sister Serena) and won the gold in singles at the 2000 Olympics.â€"Matt Cronin
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