Injury rules another top player out of the Paris Olympics
Former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova has been forced to withdraw from the Olympics with a hand injury.
Vondrousova won silver in the singles in Tokyo three years ago but has endured a disrupted 2024 campaign owing to fitness setbacks.
She joins the likes of Paula Badosa, Emma Raducanu, Aryna Sabalenka and Ons Jabeur in not competing in Paris.
“I am very sorry, but for health reasons, I will not participate in this year’s Olympic Games in Paris,” Vondrousova said in a statement put out on social media.
“I hoped until the last moment that it would be okay at least in a doubles, but the hand problems do not let me go on the court. I am now concentrating on doing well at the US Open, I will keep my fingers crossed for all the Czech representatives in France remotely.”
Sporting a career-high ranking of No 6, Vondrousova made history at Wimbledon last season when she became the first unseeded woman to win the singles title.
That Wimbledon title remains one of just two WTA Tour championships that Vondrousova has won although she has now contested six finals.
She also earned that silver medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Vondrousova has won two major doubles titles, and is a former junior world No 1. She had been set to partner Karolina Muchova in the women’s doubles in Paris but it is likely that her place will be taken by her replacement for the singles draw Katerina Siniakova.
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Vondrousova was something of a teenaged prodigy before being struck down by several injuries.
In just her second career WTA Tour singles tournament, she made a swift breakthrough on the circuit as she won the 2017 Ladies Open Biel Bienne at the age of 17.
This saw her break into the top 100 of the WTA rankings before she had even turned 18.
Vondrousova then struggled with injuries early in her career, most notably missing the second half of the 2019 season shortly after her sensational run in Paris that saw her reach her maiden Grand Slam championship match as she gained the French Open final.
She is well-known for her signature drop shot, which she deploys regardless of the surface.
Vondrousova is also one of the best returners on tour, having led the tour in the percentage of return games won and percentage of return points claimed in 2019 among all WTA Tour players with at least ten matches in the season.
