CINCINNATI - The Olympics may keep defending women's champion Serena Williams and her sister Venus from playing in the Western & Southern Open next month.
The No. 1 and No. 7 ranked women's players have not yet entered the Mason event on Aug. 13-21 because they're playing in the Rio Games the previous week.
Both women are eligible to get wild-card entries to the W&S Open until Aug. 12.
As of now the Williams sisters will not be playing the W&S Open due to the Olympics being week before. @Wcpo
— Philip Lee (@PhilipRLee) July 14, 2016
The W&S women’s field, announced Thursday, has been reduced to 48 players this year because of the Olympics. Included are champions from this year’s first two Grand Slam events: Angelique Kerber (Australian Open) and Garbiñe Muguruza (French Open).
The men's field includes all the top names with defending champion and seven-time winner Roger Federer, two-time champion Andy Murray and world's No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who is still looking for his first title at the Lindner Tennis Center to complete a set of titles from each ATP World Tour Masters. Murray won at Wimbledon this year and Djokovic took the Australian and French titles.
The men's field features the top 43 ranked players from the ATP World Tour, minus any injured. The women's field includes 33 of the top ranked eligible 37 players from the WTA.
Buy tickets for the W&S Open and get more information at www.wsopen.com.
