By Chris Davies
April 15 2003

Serena Williams has pulled out of the German Open, Berlin saying that she needed more time to rest and prepare mentally and physically for her tight schedule during the next month The World Number One who lost her first match of the year to Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne on Sunday evening 6-3, 6-4 probably felt that she didn't want to be humiliated the same way again having her confidence dented and her aura. She reached the final last year of the German Open losing to Henin-Hardenne and could lose valuable ranking points if she does not fair well in her Grand Slam defence.

Monday saw Kim Clijsters rise to the number 2 position in the world breaking the Williams number 1 and number 2 slots. Clijsters is scheduled to play at Berlin and could start to close the gap especially as she did not fair well in last years Roland Garros and Wimbledon losing in the first couple of days.

"After playing so many matches at the beginning of 2003, I have decided to take an additional week off to prepare for the European season," said Williams. "My focus right now is to prepare myself both mentally and physically for the upcoming major events in May and June. I regret that I will not be returning to the MasterCard German Open in 2003 where I have had so much success, but I do look forward to returning to Rome"

Will she play Fed Cup next week against Czech Republic? Her and sister Venus are picked in Billie Jean-Kings side.