Picture Credit: Wikimedia/ATP
In a big update, hours prior to the start of the Wimbledon Championship, defending women’s singles champion Simona Halep has withdrawn from the tournament owing to a calf injury. It should be noted that Halep had earlier been forced to miss the French Open with the injury. She took to Instagram and wrote a heartfelt note announcing her decision to pull out of the competition.
Notably, there is set to be reduced firepower at this year’s competition since several of the top players like Rafael Nadal, Naomi Osaka, Halep, Dominic Thiem and Milos Raonic have already announced that they will give this tournament a miss.
"It is with great sadness that I’m announcing my withdrawal from The Championships as my calf injury has not fully recovered," the Romanian tennis star wrote.
"I gave it everything I had in order to be ready to play Wimbledon and after having such special memories from 2 years ago, I was excited and honoured to step back on these beautiful courts as defending champion," the 29-year-old added.
“Unfortunately, my body didn’t cooperate and I’ll have to save that feeling for next year,” she concluded her caption of a picture of herself with the Wimbledon shield.
Check out her post here:
Earlier, two-time champion Rafael Nadal was the first among the star players to announce their absence from the tournament. In a couple of tweets, the Spaniard had reasoned that his decision comes in an attempt to prolong his career.
“The goal is to prolong my career and continue to do what makes me happy, that is to compete at the highest level and keep fighting for those professional and personal goals at the maximum level of competition,” he wrote.