World No 7 Bianca Andreescu has called it a day on the 2020 season and will not feature in this year’s French Open tournament vowing to come back “stronger and better than ever” in 2021.
Andreescu has not played any tennis since injuring her left knee at the 2019 WTA Finals in Shenzhen, China. She also experienced the foot injury a few months ago while training, which has added to her woes.
She won the US Open in 2019 and became Canada’s highest-ranked WTA player in history by rising to No. 4.
The 20-year-old Canadian joins other big names like reigning French Open winner No. 1, Ashleigh Barty, and recent US Open champion No. 3, Naomi Osaka, in withdrawing.
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Andreescu won her opener at the Paris major last year, but a right shoulder injury made her pull out of her second-round meeting with Sofia Kenin.
She has announced that she is going to miss the French Open so as to take further time out to regain full fitness.
“I have come to the difficult decision to skip the clay-court swing this year,” Andreescu says on social media.
“I will be taking the remainder of the season off to focus on my health and training.
“As hard as it was to come to this conclusion, I have so much to look forward to in 2021, including the Olympics; I want to use this time to focus on my game so I can come back stronger and better than ever.”
World No 1 Ashleigh Barty will also not compete in this year’s French Open due to COVID-19 concerns.
Naomi Osaka, the recent US Open champion, will also not be there due to the hamstring injury that she managed throughout the competition in New York.
