Wimbledon favourite Aryna Sabalenka withdraws leaving women's singles wide open

Wimbledon favourite Aryna Sabalenka has pulled out of the competition with a shoulder injury, leaving the competition wide open.

Sabalenka was the third seed in the women's singles, but fancied by the bookies to take home the trophy. The Belarussian was due to play Emina Bektas in the first round at SW19 but has been forced to quit, handing an opportunity to lucky loser Erika Andreeva.

Sabalenka had been open about not being "100 per cent" in the build up to the tournament, with shoulder pain having seen her withdraw in Berlin. Speaking on Saturday, she said: “We're doing everything we can with my team to make sure I'll be able to play my first match here. I'm not 100 per cent ready.”

She added: “It's really a specific injury, and it's really a rare one. Probably I'm just the second or the third tennis player who injured that muscle.

“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. 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. But I still have my hopes.”

Sabalenka had reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in two of the past three years. The two-time Australian Open champion was world No.1 as recently as September and was favourite to triumph over the next few weeks alongside Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff.

Even before Sabalenka's withdrawal, the women's singles looked wide open, with no player dominating since seven-time champion Serena Williams faded from view. All of the past six champions have lifted the Venus Rosewater Dish for the first time.

wimbledon favourite aryna sabalenka withdraws leaving women's singles wide open

Marketa Vondrousova

Only two previous winners are seeded this time around: defending champion Marketa Vondrousova, who has also been an injury doubt, and 2022 winner Elena Rybakina.

Gauff, who plays against fellow American Caroline Dolehide in the first round on Centre Court on Monday, summed up the mood in her pre-tournament press conference. “I think for me it just shows there's a lot of talent on the women's tour and it's anybody's game,” Gauff said.

“It gives you confidence obviously when you see that the field isn't stacked. I guess stacked in the way where there's one player dominating or three players dominating. I think everybody has an equal shot and it's just about who can perform better that week.”

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