This year’s US Open has been dealt another severe blow after reigning women’s champion Bianca Andreescu confirmed her withdrawal from the tournament on Thursday.
The world No.6 said in a statement that ‘unforeseen challenges’ has compromised her ability to get fit in time for the tournament which will start at the end of this month. Making a specific mention about the COVID-19 pandemic that had caused the WTA Tour to be halted for five-months until last week. Andreescu hasn’t played a tournament since the WTA Finals last October and missed the start of 2020 due to a knee injury.
“After many discussions with those closest to me, I have made the difficult decision not to return to New York this year,” Andreescu wrote on Instagram.
“I have taken this step in order to focus on my match fitness and ensure that I return ready to play at my highest level.”
Andreescu is the fourth top-10 player on the women’s Tour to pull out of New York amid the worldwide pandemic. World No.1 Ash Barty, Kiki Bertens and Elina Svitolina have also confirmed they will not be playing at the event. This year’s US Open will take place under special conditions with players being kept in what is being described as a bubble. They will have regulated testing for COVID-19 and be limited as to where they can travel in the city. Those who break the rules, could be thrown out of the tournament.
It was at the US Open last year where Andreescu made history by becoming the first Canadian player in history to win a singles Grand Slam title at the age of 19. She also became the first player in history to win the tournament on her debut.
“The US Open victory last year has been the high point of my career thus far and I will miss not being there,” she said.
“However, I realize that the unforeseen challenges, including the CVOVID pandemic, have compromised my ability to prepare and compete to the degree necessary to play at my highest level.”
As a result of Andreescu’s withdrawal, Olga Govortsova has been moved into the main draw to fill her spot. Earlier in the day France’s Fiona Ferro also withdrew from the tournament less than a week after winning the Palermo Open in Italy.
In the men’s draw reigning champion Rafael Nadal is also out due to concerns relating to COVID-19. It is the first time since 2003 that the US Open will take place without both it’s men’s and women’s reigning champions. On that occasion Pete Sampras retired from competition and Serena Williams was sidelined by a knee injury.
The US Open will start on August 31st
List of player withdrawals
1 Ash Barty AUS
5 Elina Svitolina UKR
6 Bianca Andreescu CAN
7 Kiki Bertens NED
29 Qiang Wang CHN
30 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS
31 Barbora Strycova CZE
32 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS
34 Saisai Zheng CHN
38 Julia Goerges GER
44 Fiona Ferro FRA
75 Lin Zhu CHN
85 Anastasia Potapova RUS
92 Ana Bogdan ROM
97 Sam Stosur AUS
103 Shuai Peng CHN
108 Xiyu Wang CHN
118 Barbora Krejcikova CZE
