Canada’s Milos Raonic withdrew from the Cinch Championships on Tuesday in London, England shortly before his scheduled first-round match at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament.
Raonic, who recently returned to the ATP Tour after an absence of nearly two years, was scheduled to play Australia’s Jordan Thompson.
Reports indicate Raonic is nursing a right shoulder injury. Lucky loser Alexei Popyrin of Australia replaced him in the draw.
The severity of the shoulder issue and Raonic’s status for Wimbledon in early July remain unclear. Messages left with the ATP Tour and Tennis Canada were not immediately returned.
Raonic, a former world No. 3, has battled a variety of injury problems over his career.
The 32-year-old right-hander from Thornhill, Ont., won his return match at the Libema Open in the Netherlands last week before falling to Thompson in the second round.
WATCH | Raonic drops 2nd-round match at Libema Open:
Australian Jordan Thompson beat Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., 7-6(4), 6-1 in the round of 16 at the Libema Open in the Netherlands.
‘What relief,’ says cancer-free Navratilova
Martina Navratilova says she is clear of cancer.
The tennis Hall of Famer announced the news Monday on Twitter after what she said was a full day of tests at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
“Thank you to all the doctors, nurses, proton and radiation magicians etc. — what a relief,” she wrote.
Navratilova, 66, revealed she had been diagnosed with throat cancer and breast cancer in January and would begin treatment that month. She had been diagnosed with a noninvasive form of breast cancer in 2010 and had a lumpectomy.
The 18-time Grand Slam singles champion had noticed an enlarged lymph node in her neck in November and a biopsy revealed the early stage throat cancer. But Navratilova felt well enough to return to her TV work with the Tennis Channel by the Miami Open in March.
Alcaraz posts 1st win at Queen’s Club
Carlos Alcaraz’s first grass-court match outside Wimbledon proved to be a tricky one.
Playing for the first time at the Queen’s Club Championships in London, the top-seeded Alcaraz came from a set down Tuesday to win 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3) against lucky loser Arthur Rinderknech — a No. 83-ranked Frenchman who only found out he was playing following the withdrawal of Arthur Fils a couple of hours before the match.
“It has been a really tough match,” Alcaraz said. “It was really difficult for me at the beginning to adapt my tennis, my game, to the grass.”
Alcaraz faced difficulties in dealing with the tall Rinderknech’s big serve and net coverage in what was the No. 2-ranked Spaniard’s seventh career match on grass, and first away from the All England Club.
Alcaraz rallied from going down a break early in the third set and dominated the tiebreaker, which started with an epic point that saw Alcaraz tumble to the ground after racing to the net to hit a cross-court winner.
It was Alcaraz’s first match since losing to Novak Djokovic in the French Open semifinals, after which he went to Spanish party island Ibiza.
Anett Kontaveit retiring after Wimbledon
Six-time WTA Tour winner Anett Kontaveit said Tuesday she will retire after Wimbledon next month because of a degenerative back condition.
A year ago this month, she reached No. 2 in the world. She currently is ranked No. 79.
“After several doctor’s visits and consultations with my medical team, I have been advised that I have lumbar disc degeneration in my back,” the 27-year-old Estonian wrote Tuesday on Instagram. “This does not allow for full-scale training or continued competition. Therefore, it is impossible to continue at the top level in such a highly competitive field.”
Because of the injury, she has been off and on the court since last October, when she ended her season early. He has played in the Grand Slam events this year, losing in the second round at the Australian Open and in the first round at the French Open in May.
Her most recent win came at St. Petersburg in 2022, following four victories in 2021. She has just more than $8 million US in career winnings. Kontaveit’s best finish at a Grand Slam came in Australia in 2020, where she qualified for the quarterfinals and lost to Simona Halep in straight sets.
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