Britain’s Johanna Konta has pulled out of the US Open just hours before she was due to play her first round match against Kristina Mladenovic on Monday.
The world No.47 had been troubled by a knee injury in recent months which forced her to withdraw from the third round of the Canadian Open a few weeks ago. Since then she has only played one match which was against Karolina Muchova in the first round of the Western and Southern Open. The initial news about Konta’s withdrawal was confirmed by the tournament who listed her absence as being injury-related but gave no further details.
Less than an hour after the announcement, the WTA confirmed Konta is suffering from a left thigh injury without elaborating. As a consequence of the withdrawal, she is set to lose her British No.1 position for the first time in six years.
Elsewhere in New York, three other players have pulled out of the draw due to a variety of reasons. Former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko is out due to ‘medical reasons’ but there has been no confirmation about what the issue is. Meanwhile, Jennifer Brady is out due to a knee injury. Both of those players have been replaced in the draw by Greet Minnen and Stefanie Vogele. In the men’s tournament, veteran player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is understood to be suffering from a right calf injury. Tsonga’s spot will be taken by Yuichi Sugita.
A former quarter-finalist at the US Open, it is the first time Konta has missed the tournament since 2013. Earlier this year she was also forced to pull out of Wimbledon after a member of her team tested positive for COVID-19.
Replacing Konta in the main draw will be lucky loser Kamilla Rakhimova who had only previously participated in one Grand Slam main draw in her career.
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