FILE PHOTO: Tennis – WTA Tour Finals – Panamerican Tennis Center, Guadalajara, Mexico – November 15, 2021 Poland’s Iga Swiatek celebrates winning her group stage match against Spain’s Paula Badosa REUTERS/Henry Romero
January 9, 2022
SYDNEY (Reuters) -World number nine Iga Swiatek has pulled out of next week’s Sydney Tennis Classic due to a rib injury, the 20-year-old said on Sunday.
Poland’s Swiatek, who won the French Open title in 2020, went down to top-ranked Ash Barty 6-2 6-4 in the semi-final of the Adelaide International on Saturday.
Swiatek was scheduled to play U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu in the opening round of the WTA 500 event in Sydney, which has a packed field of top names and will be led by Australian Barty.
The Australian Open, the year’s opening Grand Slam will start in Melbourne on Jan. 17.
“After intense pre season and last week’s tournament in Adelaide I feel like my body needs more time to recover before Australian Open,” Swiatek said in a statement on Twitter.
“I’ve been feeling some pain in my lower rib area which is why unfortunately I’ve decided to withdraw from the tournament in Sydney.”
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by William Mallard)
