Aryna Sabalenka was asked about her Olympic Games withdrawal ahead of her Wimbledon participation, and she provided some context.
Not too long ago, Sabalenka announced her withdrawal from the 2024 Paris Olympics. She was just one of the latest names to pull out of the event, admitting that the schedule was very tough, so she decided to focus on her body.
The schedule is pretty tough because players are expected to go from clay to grass to clay again in just over a month, which isn’t ideal for their bodies. That’s a lot of stress on the body, and for Sabalenka, it didn’t make much sense to put herself through that.
She was asked about it at her Wimbledon press conference, admitting that skipping the Olympics wasn’t an easy choice, but she’s hopeful that things will work out better for her in the future.
“Well, I mean, in sports, you can never predict anything. It’s really sad to skip the Olympics this year, but I’m really looking forward to the next one, and I really hope that I’ll be able to play in my next Olympics.”
Another thing Sabalenka was asked about was her neutrality. As an athlete from Belarus, she wouldn’t have been to play under her country’s flag but instead as a neutral athlete. For many athletes, the point of playing at the Olympics is representing their country there, and she was asked whether that impacted her decision.
“No. The main thing that I made the decision on was that the scheduling
was really tough. Recently I’ve been struggling with a lot of things health-wise and injury-wise and my body is kind of showing that I have
to take care of myself. I just decided to sacrifice Olympics for my
career.”
Sabalenka recently suffered a tricky shoulder injury at the Berlin Open. She might not even play at Wimbledon, which provides even more clarity on her withdrawal.
