Not long after Serena Williams’s name was absent from the entry list for the Australian Open, she confirmed the obvious: the seven-time champion won’t play the 2022 edition of the season-opening major in January. 

Williams, 40, hasn’t played since retiring from her first-round match at Wimbledon with a right hamstring injury and her ranking has slipped to No. 41. She won the last of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles at the 2017 Australian Open. The Australian Open’s website on Wednesday said Williams would not compete in Melbourne “following advice from her medical team.”