Aryna Sabalenka and Ons Jabeur have announced that they will choose their health over competing at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.
World No. 3 Sabalenka admitted: “I prefer to have a little rest to make sure physically and health-wise I’m ready for the hard courts…. Especially with all the struggles I’ve been struggling with the last months, I feel I have to take care of my health.”
“It’s too much for the scheduling and I made the decision to take care of my health,” she added.
Jabeur also shared on her social media that she had “decided that the quick change of surface and the body’s adaptation required would put my knee at risk and jeopardize the rest of my season.”
Athletes’ performances this season
The third-ranked Sabalenka lost to Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva in the quarter-finals of the French Open. This was the first time the Belarusian athlete had lost before the major semi-finals since the 2022 French Open. However, she did retain her title from the Australian Open.
As part of her Wimbledon preparations, Sabalenka is scheduled to participate in Berlin. She advanced to the semi-finals the previous year. Wimbledon takes place from July 1-14, 2024.
On the other hand, Jabeur, current world number ten, is worried about competing on hard and grass courts in the Olympics as she has been dealing with a recurrent knee problem for the last few years. The athlete was also beaten in the French Open quarter-finals.
The clay courts of Roland Garros will host tennis matches during the 2024 Games, which run from July 27 to August 4.
It is reported that athletes from Belarus and Russia who make it to the Games can only compete as neutrals in Paris. Daniil Medvedev, the fourth-ranked male athlete in Russia, is one of the athletes planning to compete as a neutral.
Source: BBC