Staff Reporter.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Aryna Sabalenka has withdrawn from Wimbledon due to a shoulder injury.
The Belarusian, 26, had to retire from a match at the Berlin Open last week with the problem and has not been able to recover in time.
Sabalenka practised at Aorangi Park earlier on Monday but left after about 15 minutes and appeared to be in pain.
The Australian Open champion was due to play American Emina Bektas in the second match on Court One on the opening day of the tournament.
Sabalenka posted on Instagram that she was “heartbroken” to have to pull out.
“I tried everything to get myself ready but unfortunately my shoulder is not cooperating,” she added. “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.”
“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,” Sabalenka said.
“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. We did an MRI, we did everything. We did a lot of rehab, a lot of treatments and everything.”
Russian Erika Andreeva, who lost to Britain’s Sonay Kartal in the final round of qualifying, comes in as a lucky loser.