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The 22-times grand slam singles champion has played only
eight tournaments this year and lost her top rankings to German
Angelique Kerber.
"It's been a really tough year for me, dealing with these
shoulder injuries. My doctor insists that I stay home and heal
it. I only have wonderful memories of playing in Singapore and I
will really miss my fans," the 35-year-old said in a video on
the WTA website.
Williams, who also missed Wuhan Open and China Open and a
tournament in Cincinnati this year, added that she will be "off
court for the next several weeks".
The American arrived at the year's U.S Open with concerns around
a sore shoulder from the Rio Olympics in August and was beaten
by Czech 10th seed Karolina Pliskova in the semi-final at the
Flushing Meadows.
Williams, who had also pulled out of last year's WTA Finals, has
won two titles this year, in Rome and at Wimbledon, where she
matched Steffi Graf's professional era record of 22 grand slam
singles titles.
Kerber, Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska, Karolina Pliskova and
Garbine Muguruza, Madison Keys and Dominika Cibulkova have
already qualified for the WTA Finals starting on Sunday.
(Reporting by Ian Rodricks in Bengaluru; editing by Amlan
Chakraborty)
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