World No.2 Maria Sharapova said Saturday she was not surprised to see players withdrawing from the end-of-year “Asian swing” tournaments after Serena Williams pulled out of the China Open.
The 25-year-old Russian, whose victory at Roland Garros in June completed her career Grand Slam, said the “long” WTA season meant that by the time Beijing came along energy levels were often down.
“This is the end of the year for us and you know it’s a pretty long season of 10 months of playing tournaments back to back,” she said.
“There is no doubt towards the end of the season you are not as fit as you are in the beginning, maybe don’t have as much energy, because the last grand slam of the year (US Open) was only a couple of weeks ago.
“You try to give your all for that. And then also we had the addition of the Olympics this year.”
Williams, the US Open, Olympic and Wimbledon champion, withdrew from the China Open on Thursday because of flu, just two days before the start.
It was the second year running that the former world No.1, who has 15 grand slam singles titles to her name, has not competed in Beijing, which is the fourth and final compulsory tournament in the women’s calendar.
World No.1 Victoria Azarenka, the losing finalist in this year’s US Open, pulled out of the Pan Pacific Open in Japan at the quarter-finals citing fatigue.