HEAT WAVE HITS WIMBLEDON (Photo : TWITTER/Archie Rhind-Tutt)
Wimbledon 2016 championship is slated to begin on June 27 and tournament organizers have decided to put two-time former Grand-slam winner Victoria Azarenka out of the game. She was seeded sixth in the players' list for the championship, which is scheduled to begin coming Monday.
Azarenka, 26, won the Australian Open tournaments in two consecutive years in 2012 and 2013. However, in recent years, she has been suffering from severe foot injuries. Her withdrawal from the Wimbledon comes exactly six weeks just before the Rio 2016 is slated to begin.
She has twice been the semifinalist of the Wimbledon tournament before. After playing the first-round of tennis against Italian professional tennis player, Karin Knapp, in the French Open last month, she has not appeared for any other matches.
Since the Belarusian player is not playing the upcoming tournament anymore, former number one tennis player, Venus William, will take a position in the preliminary top eight ranking seeds. This also suggests that British number one tennis player, Johanna Konta, will move up to the 16th seed. In that case, she will face a higher-seeder player only after round four, if she progresses, reported BBC.
Azarenka tried her best to return to the Wimbledon despite her injuries, but she was forced to accept defeat due to her knee injuries, which did not permit her to play any further. She announced about her withdrawal this Thursday.
Azarenka had lost to Petra Kvitova in the year 2011 and also to Serena Williams in the year 2012 in the semifinals at the Wimbledon. However, the Belarusian managed to earn two major titles, Miami and India Wells and another title this year. She won the India Wells title against Selena Williams.
Azarenka, who is not in the list anymore, has other achievements as well. She won a Gold medal at the Summer Olympics 2012 in the mixed double match with Max Mirnyi, a Bronze medal at the Summer Olympics in London 2012, Grand Slam titles at the French Open in 2008 with Bob Bryan, a Grand Slam titles at the French Open mixed double in 2008 and another Grand Slam at the US Open in 2007.
The top 10 in the New Ladies' Seeding list includes Serena Williams (USA), Garbine Muguruza (Spain), Adnieszka (Poland), Angelique Kerber (Germany), Simona Halep (Romania), Roberta Vinci (Italy), Belinda Bencic (Switzerland), Venus Williams (USA), Madison Keys (USA) and Petra Kvitova (Czechoslovakia), as listed by Daily Mail.
