Aryna Sabalenka has withdrawm from Wimbledon due to a shoulder injury. The two-time Grand Slam champion had told the press on media day, “We’re doing everything we can with my team to make sure I’ll be able to play my first match here.” She admitted that she was “not 100% ready,” and later withdrew before her first match against Emina Bektas.
Earlier, the World No. 3 had chosen not to compete at the Paris Olympics after her loss to Russian teen Mirra Andreeva at the French Open.
At the Berlin Ladies Open, where she was warming up for Wimbledon, she said, “It’s too much for the scheduling and I made the decision to take care of my health.”
However, the Belarusian was further forced to retire from her Berlin quarterfinal against Anna Kalinskaya last week after struggling to manage her injury.
At Wimbledon, she was one of the favourites to win despite never having won a title on grass. Her previous two runs at the All England Club saw her advance to the semifinals but her title hopes have ended before the tournament has even been set in motion.
“I tried everything to get myself ready but unfortunately my shoulder is not cooperating,” Sabalenka wrote on her social media. “I pushed myself to the limit in practice today to try my best, but my team explained that playing would only make things much worse.”
“It’s really a specific injury, and it’s really a rare one. Probably I’m just the second or the third tennis player who injured that muscle,” Sabalenka said over the weekend.
“The most annoying thing is that I can do anything. I can practice, I can hit my groundstrokes. I’m struggling with serving. That’s really annoying. You don’t feel like you’re injured. If you give me some weights, I’m going to go lift some weights. But if you tell me to serve, I’m going to go through pain.”
After losing in qualifying last week, Erika Andreeva has taken Sabalenka’s spot in the draw.
Main Photo Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
