The 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Republic) withdrew from the WTA 500 Adelaide International tournament citing an injury to her right thigh. This is five days before the start of the Australian Open in Melbourne. Marketa Vondrousova, who is world’s No 7, withdrew before her scheduled first-round match against the qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Belarus).
The lucky looser Taylor Townsend (USA) took her place in the tournament schedule.
It was not immediately known how serious Marketa Vondrousova’s injury was or if her status for the first Grand Slam of the year next week would be impacted.
Marketa Vondrousova has a career-high singles ranking of world No 6 by the WTA. She is the reigning Wimbledon champion, winning the tournament in 2023, the first unseeded woman to win the singles title. She was also the runner-up at the 2019 French Open, where she became the first teenage Major finalist in nearly a decade. She has won two singles titles out of six finals on the WTA Tour and a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Marketa Vondrousova is a former junior world No. 1, having won two major doubles titles. She had a quick breakthrough on the WTA Tour, winning the 2017 Ladies Open Biel Bienne at age 17 in just her second career WTA Tour singles event.