Aryna Sabalenka withdraws from Wimbledon with shoulder injury

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Third seed Aryna Sabalenka withdrew from Wimbledon on Monday because of an injured shoulder.

The two-time Australian Open champion was scheduled to play American Emina Bektas in the first round on day 1 of the Grand Slam tournament on grass.

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

Just over a week ago, Sabalenka stopped playing during the first set of her quarter-final at the Ladies Open in Berlin due to 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 everything. I can practice; I can hit my groundstrokes. I struggle to serve. It’s really annoying. You don’t feel like you’re hurt,” Sabalenka said. “If you give me some weights, I’ll lift some weights. But if you tell me to serve, I’ll be in pain. We did an MRI, we did everything. We did a lot of rehab, a lot of treatments and everything.”

Sabalenka said on Saturday that there was a chance she would have to withdraw from Wimbledon, “But I still have my hope. As someone who has fought through a lot of different pains in the last few months, I still have my hope.”

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press