Aryna Sabalenka withdrew from her Berlin Open match due to a shoulder injury, and there is a chance she might miss Wimbledon as well.
The Berlin Open was a very unlucky tournament for many players, as a few of them got injured at the WTA 500 tournament in the German capital. It’s always possible with grass, especially if it’s extra slippery, which some players have complained about in the past.
A few players injured themselves in Berlin recently, including Sabalenka, who didn’t fall, though. Her injury is a shoulder injury, which could have happened at any event on any surface.
It had nothing to do with the grass season, but it’s impacting her grass season quite a bit. She’s in London now, where she had a press conference prior to the tournament, during which she announced that she may be forced to skip the tournament.
The Belarusian admitted that she can’t really serve without pain due to the shoulder injury, and she’s definitely not going to be 100% ready for her first match.
It’s a shame because she performed so magnificently at Wimbledon in the past. She loves playing on grass; the surface suits her well. Still, she might not even play; that’s how serious the injury is.
“I’m not 100% fit now. We’re doing everything we can with my tea…do. But, no, I’m not 100% ready.”
The injury is a muscle injury but a pretty rare one, according to Sabalenka. Not many tennis players had that injury before her, according to the Belarusian’s words, so recovering from it is a bit tricky, given the lack of data.
In the coming days, she’ll do everything in her power to play, but anything beyond her first-round match will likely be determined by how her shoulder feels.
“I have something I have to figure out right now, if I don’t it could make the situation worse. I don’t want to jeopardize the rest of the season. As competitors, we don’t give up easily. In the last week we have tried a lot of different things and still I have a day and a half left.”
“I have hope. It is the teres major, in the shoulder. It is really a specific injury, very rare. I am probably the second or third tennis player to injure that muscle. I can do everything, training, hitting. background, but I struggle with the serve, it’s very annoying. You don’t feel like you’re injured.”
