World No.1 Angelique Kerber has suffered an injury blow ahead of the Wimbledon Championships after pulling out of the Birmingham International with a left hamstring injury.
The German was due to play her first match since being knocked out in the first round of the French Open by Ekaterina Makarova. Announcing her withdrawal on Sunday morning, Kerber explained that it is the same issue that also troubled her at the Madrid Open. She was forced to retire in the third round of the Spanish tournament in May after trailing 3-6, 0-5, to Eugenie Bouchard. Speaking to local media, Kerber explained that she started to feel pain yesterday.
Angelique Kerber on hamstring injury: “It started yesterday evening. It is my left hamstring. It is the same as had in Madrid.” #wta
— Jake Davies (@jakedavi5) 18 June 2017
Kerber’s withdrawal comes on the same day she was awarded a wild card for the upcoming Eastbourne International, a tournament she has reached the final at twice. It is understood that the 29-year-old is ‘hopeful’ that she will be able to recover in time for that event as well as Wimbledon, which will start straight after Eastbourne.
The setback is the latest issue to hamper Kerber during what has been a roller coaster season so far. Despite reaching the final of the Acapulco Open and winning 19 tour matches, she is yet to defeat a top-20 player in 2017. She was recently in danger of losing her No.1 spot to Simona Halep before the Romanian lost in the French Open final to Jelena Ostapenko.
Another withdrawal
Kerber’s absence joins the rapidly growing list of withdrawals from Birmingham. Both Halep and Daria Kasatkina has skipped the event due to ankle problems. Maria Sharapova will miss the entire grass season due to her thigh. Meanwhile, Agnieszka Radwanska and Monica Puig has cited illness for the reason behind their absence.
The top seed in the tournament will now be Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, who will be bidding to win her fifth title of the year. Set to join her in the field is Karolina Pliskova, Dominika Cibulkova, Johanna Konta and Garbine Muguruza.
Birmingham withdrawals:
Sharapova
Kerber
Halep
Pliskova
Ostapenko
Radwanska
Keys
Puig
Kasatkina
Vesnina
Lucic-Baroni— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) 18 June 2017
