Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credit: LEV RADIN / ANADOLU AGENCY / ANADOLU AGENCY VIA AFP
2:19 p.m., July 1, 2024modified at
2:21 p.m., July 1, 2024
The Wimbledon tournament sees a top 3 player withdraw. Victim of a “very rare” shoulder injury, Aryna Sabalenka, semi-finalist on the grass at Wimbledon, was forced to withdraw on Monday, the first day of the tournament. She is replaced in the draw by the Russian Erika Andreeva (101), who was drafted from the qualifications.
World No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka was forced to withdraw from the first day of Wimbledon on Monday due to a shoulder injury, organizers announced. The 26-year-old Belarusian, a two-time Australian Open winner (2023, 2024) and semi-finalist at last year’s Wimbledon, had warned on Saturday that there was a “risk” of withdrawal due to a “very rare” shoulder injury.
“I’m not 100%”
She is replaced in the table by the Russian Erika Andreeva (101), drafted from qualifying, to face the American Emina Bektas (107th). “I’m not 100%” because of a “very specific, really very rare” injury for a tennis player, Sabalenka explained on Saturday.
A two-time semi-finalist at Wimbledon (2021, 2023), she had to retire during her quarter-final against Anna Kalinskaya in Berlin ten days ago due to this physical problem. According to her, doctors told her that she was “only the second or third tennis player to injure the (shoulder) muscle”.
