By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Monday, July 22, 2024
Photo credit: Rob Newell/CameraSport
Marketa Vondrousova is out of the Paris Olympics due to a hand injury.
The Olympic silver medalist announced today she has withdrawn from the Paris Olympic event, which starts on Saturday at Roland Garros.
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"I am very sorry, but due to health reasons I will not be participating in this year's Olympic Games in Paris," Vondrousova posted on social media alongside a broken heart emoji. "I hoped until the last moment that it could go at least in a double, but the hand problems do not let me go on the court.
"I'm concentrating now to be okay at the US Open, I will keep my fingers crossed for all Czech representatives in France from a distance."
Vondrousova's withdrawal means neither gold-medal champion Belinda Bencic nor silver medalist Vondrousova will compete at the Paris Olympics.
Bencic burst through the final three games out-dueling Vondrousova 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 in the Tokyo Olympics final to make history as the first Swiss woman to win the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in July of 2021.
It has been a tough stretch for 2023 Wimbledon winner Vondrousova.
In her Wimbledon main-draw debut, Jessica Bouzas Maneiro dethroned defending-champion Vondrousova 6-4, 6-2 in a shocking and historic Wimbledon opening-round upset earlier this month.
The sixth-seeded Vondrousova made ignominious history.
Thirty-years after American serve-and-volleyer Lori McNeil stunned Steffi Graf 7-5, 7-6 in a rain-interrupted Wimbledon opener, Vondrousova became the first defending ladies' champion to crash out of The Championships first round.
An unsettled Vondrousova was stalled by a hip injury she sustained falling to the grass in Berlin last month, spooked by spiking nerve and unable to solve the 21-year-old Spaniard.