Serena Williams out of Indian Wells and Miami, handing Kerber the No. 1 ranking

Just two months after her historic win at the Australian Open, Serena Williams has pulled out of Masters events Indian Wells and Miami due to knee issues again.

The withdrawal from the CA tournament this week all but assures current No. 2, Angelique Kerber, the top ranking, disappointing several fans in women’s tennis who were hoping to see the two battle for the No. 1 spot throughout the tournament.

Kerber and Williams have been see-sawing over the top spot in the past year. Kerber took it from the 23-time grand slam winner with her US Open championship win last year. She ended the year retaining the top spot. But Williams took it back with her record win in Australia, by a narrow margin — just 425 points separate the two as of Wednesday.

The battle for number one was expected to be a contest at Indian Wells, considered to be the “5th grand slam” by many, a Masters 1000 tournament, and the biggest contest before the next grand slam, the French Open in May. Williams’ withdrawal is a letdown considering that she will have never played as the No. 1 player this year. She achieved the ranking the day after her win against Venus Williams in the Melbourne final and hasn’t played in a tournament since.

“I will keep moving forward and continue to be positive. I look forward to being back as soon as I can,” Williams said in a statement released by the BNP Paribas tournament.

The BNP Paribas masters series has never been a very successful one for her anyway. Williams last won the title there in 2001 but then boycotted the event for 13 years because of audience bias and a racist incident many years ago. The year she came back, her knee plagued her again and gave Simona Halep a walkover victory in their match. Last year, she lost to Victoria Azarenka in the final.

The announcement of Williams’ exit was kept close to the vest by tournament officials. Williams has been riding a positive wave since bypassing Stefi Graf in the most grand slams in the Open Era and was last seen playing in her boots, crashing two strangers’ tennis practice while walking her dog with her fiancé in San Francisco in a viral video last month. As of Tuesday the web site still said, “Serena heads women’s singles draw.”

Maria Sharapova is in the process of pleading her case to be given a wild card to play in the French Open. The Russian has already been handed passes to play in clay tournaments, once her doping suspension ends, in Germany, Madrid, and Italy leading up to the second grand slam of the year. Williams is still planning to recuperate in time for the short clay season as well. Petra Kvitova is hoping to be in shape to play her favorite Wimbledon. As of Tuesday, she still couldn’t grip a racquet yet. No news on when Azarenka is planning to come back, with her twitter account indicating possibly 2018, but maybe sooner, however nothing definitive. It’s looking like women’s tennis will heat up again in the spring at Roland Garros.

Like her Australian Open winner on the men’s side, Roger Federer, Serena Williams will be pacing herself at this stage of her illustrious career.

Next: Maria Sharapova trying for French Open wild card

Federer said that the six months he took off last year helped him feel re-energized to come back this year with vengeance. He has also said he would be pacing himself this year and prioritizing certain tournaments to allow himself to keep playing for longer on the tour. Williams is right to take the same type of precautions as she keeps playing into her late 30’s. After all, there is only one Serena Williams.