The tennis world suffered another blow when it was announced that Womens World No.4 Karolina Pliskova is withdrawing from the Australian Open because of injuries to her right hand.
She is said to have sustained the injury during practice. She has said that it was devastating to have to miss the first Grand Slam event of 2022.
“Unfortunately, I hurt my right hand in practice yesterday and I won’t be able to play in Adelaide, Sydney, and (the) Australian Open this year,” said Pliskova in a twitter feed.
“I am sad not being able to start my season in Australia and I will miss my Australian fans very much.”
In addition, she also said this in a twitter statement, Some days are worse than others. Unfortunately, I will be out for a while and will not compete at my favorite tournaments in Australia.
In addition to the Aussie Open, Karolina will also miss the early January WTA events in Sydney and Adelaide.
Other high-profile players have also stated that that they are withdrawing from the Australian Open including Bianca Andreescu and Serena Williams.
Williams had backed out of the Aussie Open saying that she is not “where she needs to be physically to compete”.
Andreescu, on the other hand, stated that she is withdrawing because she needed to, “take some additional time to reflect, train and be ready for the upcoming 2022 tennis season”.