Serena Williams
IN PHOTO: Serena Williams of the U.S.A. celebrates after winning her match against Venus Williams of the U.S.A. at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, July 6, 2015. REUTERS/Toby Melville REUTERS/Toby Melville

Serena Williams has announced on Facebook that she will take a break to recover from her right elbow injury, which she sustained during practice. The said injury had also forced her to withdraw from the 2015 Collector Swedish Open in Bastad.

“As much fun as we have been having the past eight or so weeks, I have to take some time to let my elbow heal,” Serena said in her Facebook post. “I am confident it will be ready for the rest of the summer.”

Serena added that she will be taking a week off to allow her elbow to “recover.” She said that she will also undergo rehabilitation to make her ready for the second half of the season.

The 21-grand slam champion, who won her last major title at the recently concluded 2015 Wimbledon Championships, injured her elbow during a training session in Bastad, according to a statement posted on the Collector Swedish Open website. She managed to come through the first round and beat Belgian Ysaline Bonaventure 6-2 6-1. She was later advised by medical officials to drop the tournament altogether.

Serena is on course to achieving a Calendar Year Grand Slam this season after winning all three major tournaments at the Australian Open, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon. Should Serena successfully defend her title at Flushing Meadows in August, where she is a three-time defending champion, she will become the first player since Steffi Graf to win tennis’ glorious titles in one season. Graf achieved the Calendar Year Grand Slam in 1988.

Since turning professional, Serena has skipped playing in major only 11 times. She has a dominating head-to-head record against tennis’ top 10 female tennis players: Maria Sharapova (18-2), Simona Halep (5-1) Petra Kvitova (5-1), Carolina Wozniacki (10-1), Ana Ivanovic (8-1), Agnieszka Radwanska (8-0), Lucie Safarova (9-0), Garbine Muguruza (3-1), and Carla Suarez-Navarro (6-0).

Serena has just achieved her 250th week at the top of the world rankings in women’s tennis. She is 40-1 this season. She has three grand slam titles (Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon) and one WTA Premier Event at the Miami Open.

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