Aryna Sabalenka withdraws from Wimbledon due to shoulder injury

WIMBLEDON, England – Third-seeded Aryna Sabalenka withdrew from Wimbledon on Monday due to a shoulder injury.

The two-time Australian Open champion was due to face Emina Bektas of the United States in the first round of Day 1 of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.

Sabalenka, a semi-finalist at the All England Club the last two times she played there, was replaced in Monday’s draw by Erika Andreeva, who lost in last week’s qualifiers.

Just over a week ago, Sabalenka stopped playing during the first set of the quarterfinals at the Berlin Ladies Open, citing shoulder pain.

She said she had a muscle injury that she called “very frustrating.”

“The most annoying thing is that I can do anything. I can practice; I can hit my groundstrokes. I am struggling to serve. This is really annoying. You don’t feel hurt,” Sabalenka said. “If you give me some weights, I will lift some weights. But if you tell me to serve, I will go through pain. We did an MRI, we did everything. We did a lot of rehabilitation, a lot of treatments and everything.”

Sabalenka said on Saturday there was a chance she would withdraw from Wimbledon: “But I still have my hopes. As someone who has been struggling with a lot of different pain over the last few months, I still have hope.”

___

AP Tennis: