US Open 2022: Four female stars not participating this year

One of the major tournaments in tennis and the last grand slam of the year, the US Open 2022 began Tuesday where world-class tennis players are featuring, including World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev, 22-time major champion Rafael Nadal and 23-grand slam winner Serena Williams. Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, last year’s winner Emma Raducanu, two-time ATP Masters 1000 titlist Carlos Alcaraz and Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas will be contesting in the US Open 2022, adding to the tournament’s star quotient.

But while the presence of these stars promises to make the US Open an enthralling Grand Slam, the absence of certain players does dampen it to a certain extent. Novak Djokovic, winner of 21 Grand Slam titles, is not participating as he is unvaccinated against Covid, while the great Roger Federer, who has been away from tennis, is another notable absentee. Besides the two, certain female players too are having to give the tournament a miss, a list of whom we have conjured.

1 Angelique Kerber: Former women’s singles World No. 1 Angelique Kerber will miss US Open this year due to pregnancy. Kerber took to Twitter to break the news and wrote “I really wanted to play the US Open but eventually I decided that two against one just isn’t a fair competition. For the next months, I will take a break from travelling the globe as a tennis player but then again, I believe it’s for the best possible reason! I will miss all of you.” Fans would surely miss the German tennis player who has won three Grand Slams – Australian Open and US Open in 2016, and the Wimbledon in 2018.

2 Sania Mirza: Sania Mirza had to pull out of the US Open this year due to an elbow injury. Sania took to Instagram to inform that she had hurt her forearm/elbow while playing in Canada two weeks ago and added that she did not realise the seriousness of the injury until a scan, which revealed a tear in her tendon. Sania further revealed that the timing of the injury was ‘terrible’ and would ‘change’ some of her retirement plans. Earlier, the former World No.1 in women’s doubles had announced that she would retire from the sport, having won a total of six Grand Slam titles, three of which were in mixed doubles event.

3 Marketa Vondrousova: Vondrousova, the Czech Republic star, is not a part of the US Open this year due to an ongoing wrist injury. Silver medallist of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Vondrousova’s withdrawal is a big setback to her fans. In 2019, Vondrousova had come close to becoming the first Czech woman to win the French Open in 38 years but lost to Australia’s Ash Barty in final at Roland Garros.

4 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova: Russian tennis star Pavlyuchenkova would miss the US Open due to a knee injury. Runner up of 2021 French Open in women’s singles, Anastasia had earlier announced that she would skip rest of 2022 season due to the same injury. In a Twitter post, Pavlyuchenkova had written: “After rehabbing for months this year and only played at 3 events, the last two tournaments her showed me, that the pain was still there and I wasn’t ready, so i have decided to take more time and come back stronger next year!”