Venus vows to beat illness and fight to make return

Williams revealed on Wednesday after pulling out of her second-round match that she had Sjogren’s syndrome, which can cause fatigue and joint pain.

“I think the best thing that could have happened for me this summer was to feel worse so I could feel better,” Williams said in an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America.

The seven-times Grand Slam champion said she had suffered problems with stamina for several years, which she now believes were caused by Sjogren’s.

It wasn’t until she developed more concrete symptoms in the last few months that she was diagnosed.

“Sjogren’s is something you live with your whole life,” Williams said. “The good news for me is now I know what’s happening after spending years not knowing – I feel like I can get better and move on.”

She said she suffered from swelling, numbness and “debilitating” fatigue.

“It’s not that you don’t have energy; you just feel beat up,” the 31-year-old American said.

Williams said she initially thought of playing on at the final Grand Slam of the year.

“OK, I could walk out on the court. I’m a tough woman. I’m a tough athlete. I’ve played through a lot of things,” she said. “But what kind of match it would be? It was a tough decision, but at the same time I’ve had to come to accept what I’m going through.”

Williams had cited a virus after withdrawing from hard-court tune-up tournaments after losing in the fourth round at Wimbledon in late June. She played for the first time in two months on Monday, beating Vesna Dolonts 6-4, 6-3 in the first round in New York.

Despite all of her past success, including a brief stint at No 1, Williams was unseeded at the US Open after falling to 36th in the rankings after a year of little action. Since reaching the semifinals at the tournament last year, Williams has played only 11 matches. The WTA projects her ranking now will slide out of the top 100. Williams’ younger sister Serena missed months of the season after suffering from a blood clot on her lung following an accident in which she cut her foot on broken glass in a restaurant.

Venus said Serena’s travails had already given her a new perspective.

“So this, right now, I think will help me to feel grateful for everything that I have,” she said. “And at the same time it makes me want to get up and fight harder every single day.”

Serena was set to play Holland’s Michaella Krajicek in the second round at Flushing Meadows last night.