Serena Williams says she's skipping Tokyo Olympics
Serena Williams earned a spot at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, but she's decided she won't be using it.
On Sunday at the All-England Club, the day before play begins at Wimbledon, the four-time Olympic gold medalist told reporters that she's not going to Tokyo to compete for a fifth.
"I'm actually not on the Olympic list, not that I'm aware of," Williams said via ESPN. "If so, then I shouldn't be on it."
Williams declines to explain her decision
Williams, 39, was asked why she decided to skip the Olympics, but said she wasn't ready to get into her reasons right now.
"There's a lot of reasons that I made my Olympic decision," she said. "I don't really want to — I don't feel like going into them today. Maybe another day. Sorry.
"I have not thought about it. In the past [the Olympics] has been a wonderful place for me. I really haven't thought about it, so I'm going to keep not thinking about it."
Williams did indicate last month that she was leaning toward saying no. Due to the restrictions on travel to Japan, she wouldn't be able to bring her three-year-old daughter Olympia. When she was asked about traveling to Tokyo without Olympia, Williams essentially said that was out of the question.
Asked Serena Williams this morning about the Tokyo Olympics. Tennis entries will be named after the French Open in mid-June. She will almost certainly mathematically clinch a spot this week. Will she take it? pic.twitter.com/kMQQnIK2ZP
— Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) May 10, 2021
Williams has one gold medal in singles, which she won in 2012, and three in doubles, which she won in 2000, 2008, and 2012, all with her sister Venus. While the next Summer Olympics are only three years away, it's hard to imagine that Williams, who will be 42, will still be competing then. But she's made a career on defying expectations and doing what people said she couldn't, so who knows what the future holds.
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