File photo: Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka
WIMBLEDON, England: Third-seeded Aryna Sabalenka withdrew from Wimbledon on Monday because of an injured shoulder.
The two-time Australian Open champion was supposed to play Emina Bektas of the United States in the first round on Day 1 at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.
Sabalenka, a semifinalist at the All England Club each of the last two times she appeared there, was replaced in the draw on Monday by Erika Andreeva, who lost in qualifying last week.
A little more than a week ago, Sabalenka stopped playing during the first set of her quarterfinal at the Berlin Ladies Open, citing pain in her shoulder.
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’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.”
Sabalenka said on Saturday there was a chance she would need to pull out of Wimbledon, "But I still have my hopes. As someone who been fighting through a lot of different pains in the past months, I still have my hopes.”
