Halep was forced to skip Roland Garros this year as well, owing to the same injury that was sustained at the Rome Open this year.
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Current Wimbledon champion Simona Halep has announced her decision to withdraw from The Wimbledon owing to a calf injury. Halep informed the world of her decision via Instagram on Friday. She stated in the Instagram post that she had not yet recovered completely from her injury and that her body did not cooperate. It will be quite a blow to The Championships this year as Halep would have been playing to defend her crown. Fans are now certain to see a new champion the in women’s singles event of the tournament this year. Halep was forced to skip Roland Garros this year as well, owing to the same injury. She had sustained it at the Rome Open during a match against Angelique Kerber.
“It is with great sadness that I’m announcing my withdrawal from The Championships as my calf injury has not fully recovered,” Halep stated in an emotional Instagram post.
“I gave it everything I had in order to be ready to play Wimbledon and after having such special memories from 2 years ago, I was excited and honored to step back on these beautiful courts as defending champion. Unfortunately, my body didn’t cooperate and I’ll have to save that feeling for next year,” she added.
The former world number 1 would have hoped to achieve an incredible feat by defending her Wimbledon crown this year, but that will not be the case. Several fans had assumed that Halep skipped the French Open so that she does not aggravate the injury, and that she is fit for her title defence at The Championships.
The situation will be particularly heartbreaking for the current Wimbledon champion as she had been hopeful to play in the competition. In the grass season this year, she was scheduled to play at the Bad Homburg Open this week but had withdrawn from it earlier to help heal her body ahead of The Championships. Halep had spoken back then about how she was optimistic about her calf healing in time and her being able to play at Wimbledon.
“I will keep practicing because I want to be able to play in Wimbledon. But for now, I have to take care of my body and to see how the recovery is going,” she had said back then.
The world number 2 had taken part in a practice session with Carla Suarez Navarro on Thursday. It was after this session possibly that Halep felt like her body was not going to be 100% for the competition. She will be hoping that her leg heals by the time the US Open comes around and that she is match fit for that competition.
Halep is not the only big-name tennis player who has withdrawn from Wimbledon this year. Dominic Thiem and tennis legend Rafael Nadal have also announced their withdrawal from the competition. The duo will not even take part in the upcoming Olympic Games. Nadal had said that he was listening to his body in order to prolong his career as much as possible and that he did not want to put much strain on it. Thiem had to withdraw owing to an injury to his wrist.
