In recent years, two-time Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka has played at Wimbledon every other time. In 2019, the Belarusian abandoned the fight in the first round; In 2020, the tournament was not held due to the pandemic. In the 2021 season, Sabalenka reached the semifinals; The following year, the organizers did not allow Russians or Belarusians. In 2023, Arina again reached the semi-finals and now again will not be able to defend her points.
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What happened to Sabalenka?
Sabalenka’s problems began at the WTA-500 tournament in Berlin. The Belarusian tennis player reached the quarter-finals together with Anna Kalinskaya, but with the score 1:5 in the first set she refused to continue the fight due to a shoulder injury. This withdrawal during the match turned out to be the first in Arina’s entire career. During the break between tournaments, the Belarusian tried to heal her shoulder and even showed how she did it. In particular, she used suction cups, as they are believed to help speed up recovery and relieve muscle pain.
Aryna Sabalenka recovers from injury
Photo: From the personal archive of Arina Sabalenko.
At the pre-tournament press conference, Arina said that, unfortunately, the option to withdraw is not excluded. “I’m not in the best shape right now. The team and I are doing everything possible so that I can play the first game here. But I’m not 100% ready.
I just call it a shoulder injury. This is a really specific injury and it’s really rare. I’m probably the second or third tennis player to injure this muscle. This is very unpleasant.
The most annoying thing is that I can do whatever I want. I can practice, I can take rebound shots. But there is a problem with the delivery. It is very annoying. You don’t feel that there is an injury. If you give me weights, I will go and lift them. But if you tell me to serve, I will feel pain.
Arina Sabalenka and her right shoulder
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
“We did an MRI. We did everything, we did rehabilitation and treatment. I have never encountered serious injuries in my career. The last month has been really difficult for me. I experienced different pains,” he said.
And after her withdrawal, she wrote on her social networks: “My heart breaks because I have to tell everyone that I will not be able to play the tournament this year. I did everything I could to prepare, but unfortunately my shoulder won’t give out. Today in training I gave everything to give my best, but my team explained to me that playing would only make things worse.
This tournament means a lot to me. And I promise that next year I will come back stronger than ever.”
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What will happen to Arina’s grade?
Things are not as bad as they might seem here. Sabalenka, the world’s third-ranked player, lost 780 points in last year’s semi-finals, but she is not in danger of a serious drop in the rankings. (The gap to the top two will increase, but that’s another question.) The Belarusian will lose at most one place. Arina will fall to fourth place in the WTA rankings only if Elena Rybakina, her closest pursuer, wins the title at Wimbledon, as she did two years ago. Moreover, fourth place in terms of seeding at Grand Slam tournaments is no different from third.
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Who will replace Sabalenka at the net?
Because the athlete withdrew after the draw, a huge imbalance formed on the grid. The second place spot is now taken by one lucky loser, and this lucky loser is Erika Andreeva, who celebrated her 20th birthday exactly a week ago.
Mirra’s older sister was the only 11 Russian woman to reach the final qualifying phase. Erica was defeated in it, but she still managed to reach the tournament thanks to her relatively high position in the WTA ranking (the young Russian tops the second hundred). A year ago, Andreeva first tried to enter the main draw at Wimbledon, but then lost in the second qualifying round.
How did the tennis world react?
The famous Portuguese journalist José Morgado wrote on his social network account X (formerly Twitter): “Incredibly sad news. Now the bottom half of the women’s draw is SO OPEN.”
BBC journalist Russell Fuller added: “Aryna Sabalenka was very much a potential champion. [Уимблдона]until I hurt my shoulder in Berlin.”
“I can’t help but wonder if Sabalenka’s shoulder injury, especially given its rarity, is related to a biomechanical reconfiguration of her serve,” Tennis.com journalist David Cain noted.
“We will miss you, Arina,” the Wimbledon press service summed up.
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Sabalenka’s withdrawal is not the only sad news from the first day of Wimbledon. Earlier it became known that Ekaterina Alexandrova, who according to the official WTA is third in the world on grass, will not play in the tournament due to illness.
