Serena's pulled out of Linz and Moscow, and likely the YECs and Fed Cup due to reaggravating her foot in practice. Per a statement, her season is likely done.
Despite all the confirmations that she was going to be in Linz and Moscow, which made sense considering she was practicing and really, why the hell would she be practicing if she had no intention to play for the rest of the year, the withdrawals and season shut-down can't be too surprising. But the news does have a pretty interesting effect on things.
Serena could drop as low as #5 for the year, possibly more depending on what happens in Doha (hell, Bepa could end up #1 if things fall the right way). If that were to hold up through the Aussie warm-up tourneys, that means she wouldn't be one of the four top seeds in Melbourne. Nutty.
In addition, her withdrawal gave a wildcard to Ana for Linz, which gives her another opportunity to collect some points to get he ranking up. She'll be #29 going into the tournament, I believe, and who knows. If she has a strong end of the season and a solid pre-AO, she could be a top 16 seed at the Open. Ok, I'm totally making that up. I haven't sat down with my trusty abacus or anything. But the goal, I would guess, is to be seeded (top 32) for Melbourne. Keep on climbing, you fat elephant.
Finally, Serena' withdrawal from Doha opens up one more spot. It looks to be a battle between Vika, Nails, an Shahar for that last spot.
