Aryna Sabalenka doing 'everything' to be fit for 2024 Wimbledon tilt amid shoulder struggles
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Published 29/06/2024 at 15:40 GMT
Last season Aryna Sabalenka reached the Wimbledon semi-finals before being knocked out, but this season there is doubt that the Belarusian will be fit to take part in her first-round match against Emina Bektas this coming Monday. A shoulder injury is keeping her from full fitness, but the Australian Open champion says she is still hopeful of taking part.
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Aryna Sabalenka is “not 100% fit” as she struggles with a shoulder injury ahead of Wimbledon, but says she is doing “everything” to be ready for the forthcoming Grand Slam.
Sabalenka won the Australian Open back in January, but that remains her only tournament win of the season.
Iga Swiatek remains top of the world rankings, and Sabalenka's chances of challenging the Pole at SW19 are hampered by an injury that forced her to retire in the Berlin Open quarter-finals last week.
Sabalenka gave details of the injury, explaining: "It's teres major. I call it just shoulder injury. It's really a specific injury, and it's really a rare one. Probably I'm just the second or the third tennis player who injured that muscle. [It's] a very frustrating one.
“The most annoying thing is that I can do anything. I can practice, I can hit my groundstrokes. I'm struggling with serving. That's really annoying.
"You don't feel like you're injured. If you give me some weights, I'm going to go lift some weights. But if you tell me to serve, I'm going to go through pain. We did an MRI, we did everything. We did a lot of rehab, a lot of treatments."
The Belarusian said she would do "everything we can" to be fit enough to play in her first-round tie against Emina Bektas, scheduled for Monday, but acknowledged there is “a chance” she may fail in her bid to be ready.
She added: "I never deal with serious injuries in my career. The struggles I'm going through right now, that's a lot. I would say that the past month [has been] really challenging for me. I've been fighting through a lot of different pains.
"That's really tough to manage, this trying to stay positive and at the same time seeing the reality."
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However, the 26-year-old, who is yet to reach the final at Wimbledon, remains hopeful.
"I still have my hopes," she said. "As someone who [has] been fighting through a lot of different pains in the past months, I still have my hopes."
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