The Australian Open will begin on Monday, January 17 and plenty of big stars are in jeopardy of missing the first Grand Slam of the year. Australian government is having strict protocols regarding visitors coming into the country. Plenty of big stars have tested positive for Covid-19 and may miss the event. There are other players who have withdrawn because of injury. Here is the list of big names who are set to miss the Australian Open.
Bianca Andreescu
The young Canadian withdrew from the Australian Open citing she wants to recover physically and mentally. Last year when she was in the bubble for the Australian Open, she said that isolating and quarantining in hotels took a toll on her physically and mentally on her. She took to social media and thoroughly explained why she was not participating in the Australian Open swing.
Serena Williams
Probably the biggest name on the list from the females to miss the event is Serena Williams. Sadly, she announced that she will not participate on the event due to not being fit to compete. She will make a comeback when she is fit but not at the near future. Currently, she has won 23 Grand Slam titles and will remain in that number until the French Open. The seven-time champion will be missed as she is a fan favorite.
Roger Federer
The Swiss is set to miss this Grand Slam again as he will not participate in the event. One of the greats will be out and that is sad to hear for the tournament directors and tennis fans around the world. He is still not at a level that he wants to be, and he will choose which tournaments best fit his schedule so that he wont be tired early in the season.
Stan Wawrinka
Not playing due to suffering a foot injury, “Stan the Man” is missing this major. He is a one-time champion of this event, and he has had bad luck thus far with injuries. Moreover, he is not getting any young and must be smart with the tournament that he plans to participate in. when on his day he is one of the best on tour no question about that.
Karolina Pliskova
The Czech who is currently World No.4 suffered a hand injury in practice. She withdrew from the entire Australian Open swing. She will try to recover from this injury and come back from this set back. No doubt she will be missed as she has made a deep run in 2019 when she reached the semifinals.
Dominic Thiem
2020 US Open Champion will miss this event as he will try to be fully healthy mentally and physically for the clay court season. He had a horrible 2021 and then suffered a wrist injury just before Wimbledon. Since then, he has not played in a competitive tournament, and we will have to wait until he decides to make a comeback.
Other Big Names
Other known names set to miss this prestigious event include, Venus Williams, Kei Nishikori, Guido Pella, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Aljaz Bedene, Kyle Edmund, Jeremy Chardy, Jennifer Brady, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Su-wei Hsieh. Albeit, the Australian Open is set to have other big names showing up to play despite all of these big known names set to miss the event. This will be the opportunity for other players to step up and take full advantage of the circumstances.
Main Photo from Getty Images
