{"id":66696,"date":"2018-01-05T18:00:11","date_gmt":"2018-01-06T02:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=66696"},"modified":"2018-01-05T17:53:01","modified_gmt":"2018-01-06T01:53:01","slug":"serena-williams-andy-murray-withdraw-from-australian-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/serena-williams-andy-murray-withdraw-from-australian-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Serena Williams, Andy Murray Withdraw From Australian Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Australian Open is looking less like a Grand Slam event after losing tennis stars Serena Williams and Andy Murray this week<\/a>. Murray told tournament organizers on Wednesday he couldn\u2019t play because of a lingering injury.<\/p>\n

\"Serena
Serena Williams and Andy Murray both withdrew from the Jan. 15 Australian Open. (Image: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cSadly I won\u2019t be playing in Melbourne this year, as I am not yet ready to compete,\u201d Murray said in a statement. \u201cI\u2019ll be flying home shortly to assess all the options but I appreciate all the messages of support and I hope to be back playing soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams followed a day later, withdrawing from the prestigious event, saying she wasn\u2019t tournament ready and was still getting her game together after giving birth to her daughter Olympia in September.<\/p>\n

“After competing in Abu Dhabi I realized that although I am super close, I’m not where I personally want to be,” Williams said in a statement. \u201cMy coach and team always said, ‘Only go to tournaments when you are prepared to go all the way.’\u00a0I can compete \u2013 but I don’t want to just compete, I want to do far better than that and to do so, I will need a little more time,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Other Factors Influencing Odds<\/h2>\n

Williams was the defending champion after defeating her sister Venus last year while she was two months pregnant. She was a 40-1 pick to repeat this year, far behind favorites Karolina Pliskova and Garbine Muguruza, who are at 6-1. Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep are next at 15-2.<\/p>\n

Venus Williams is listed at 22-1 and is coming off a trying year for the 37 year old. She attained her highest ranking (No. 5) since 2010 but failed to win a title. She was also embroiled in a controversy involving an automobile accident when her car was hit by another vehicle.<\/p>\n

The passenger in that car ultimately died of his injuries. Williams was cleared in December of any wrongdoing in the accident but a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family is ongoing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Murray wasn\u2019t expected to play because of a lingering hip injury and wasn\u2019t on the betting board. Last year he was one of the favorites to win at plus-150, but was upset by Germany\u2019s Mischa Zverev in the fourth round. He has three grand slam titles but has never won the Australian.<\/p>\n

With Murray out Roger Federer is the 15-8 favorite, with Rafael Nadal at 4-1 and Novak Djokovic at 5-1.<\/p>\n

When They Might Return<\/h2>\n

It appears Serena Williams will be on a tennis court sooner than Murray. It is expected she will play next month and prepare for the next Grand Slam event, which is the French Open in May.<\/p>\n

Murray\u2019s season appears to be finished, to the disappointment of his fans<\/a>. He is pondering hip surgery and returned to the UK to assess his options. He has not played in a competitive event since July.<\/p>\n

\u201cSurgery is also an option but the chances of a successful outcome are not as high as I would like which has made this my secondary option and my hope has been to avoid that,\u201d he said in a statement. “However this is something I may have to consider but let’s hope not.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Australian Open is looking less like a Grand Slam event after losing tennis stars Serena Williams and Andy Murray this week. Murray told tournament organizers on Wednesday he couldn\u2019t play because of a lingering injury. \u201cSadly I won\u2019t be playing in Melbourne this year, as I am not yet ready to compete,\u201d Murray said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":66697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSerena Williams, Andy Murray Withdraw From Australian Open<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Serena Williams and Andy Murray told officials at the Australian Open they wouldn\u2019t be playing in this year\u2019s Grand Slam event.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Serena Williams, Andy Murray Withdraw From Australian Open\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Serena Williams and Andy Murray told officials at the Australian Open they wouldn\u2019t be playing in this year\u2019s Grand Slam event.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/serena-williams-andy-murray-withdraw-from-australian-open\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-06T02:00:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-01-06T01:53:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/53089.3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"506\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/serena-williams-andy-murray-withdraw-from-australian-open\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/serena-williams-andy-murray-withdraw-from-australian-open\/\",\"name\":\"Serena Williams, Andy Murray Withdraw From Australian Open\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/serena-williams-andy-murray-withdraw-from-australian-open\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/serena-williams-andy-murray-withdraw-from-australian-open\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/53089.3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-06T02:00:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-06T01:53:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Serena Williams and Andy Murray told officials at the Australian Open they wouldn\u2019t be playing in this year\u2019s Grand Slam event.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/serena-williams-andy-murray-withdraw-from-australian-open\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/serena-williams-andy-murray-withdraw-from-australian-open\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/serena-williams-andy-murray-withdraw-from-australian-open\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/53089.3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/53089.3.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":506,\"caption\":\"Serena Williams and Andy Murray both withdrew from the Jan. 15 Australian Open. 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