PARIS: The Olympic tennis competition suffered another blow as third seed Elena Rybakina added to a long list of hours she missed due to illness just hours after the draw at Roland Garros on Thursday.
The big 25-year-old Kazakh faced Romanian Jaqueline Cristiano in the first round of singles.
“It is difficult for me to announce this, but unfortunately I will not be able to participate in the Olympic Games in Paris. I got acute bronchitis after Wimbledon, and although I tried to return to training, my body is still recovering. The doctors strictly forbade me to go to court, Rybakina wrote on Instagram.
Rybakina’s withdrawal means France’s Caroline Garcia moves into her place in the draw as the 17th seed, while Australia’s Daria Saville enters the draw as an alternate.
As the action gets underway on Saturday, a flurry of high-profile selections has cast something of a cloud over the tournament on the Paris clay.
On Wednesday, men’s world number one and top seed Italian Jannik Sinner had to pull out of the singles and doubles due to illness, while exciting Danish youngster Holger Rune was also sidelined with a wrist injury on Wednesday.
Czech player Markéta Vondroušová, who was runner-up in singles in Tokyo three years ago, withdrew on Monday due to injury, as did Pole Hubert Hurkacz due to a knee injury at Wimbledon.
The Swiss Belinda Bencicová, the champion in Tokyo, is also missing after the birth of her daughter in April.
Two-time Olympic singles champion Andy Murray announced before Thursday’s draw that he was not fit enough to compete in the singles but would still play the doubles with Dan Evans.
Other notable tennis absences from the Games include world number three Aryna Sabalenka, Tunisian Ons Jabeur, Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu, American Ben Shelton and Tokyo bronze medalist Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain.
