WTA Adelaide: Garbine Muguruza, Belinda Bencic and Jelena Ostapenko cancel at short notice
The strong field at the WTA 500 event in Adelaide experienced a short-term setback: Garbine Muguruza, Belinda Bencic and Jelena Ostapenko canceled their participation a few days before the start.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Dec 31, 2021, 08:57 am
The first week of the WTA Tour 2022, it is a very promising one. At the simultaneous events in Adelaide and Melbourne, almost all of the world's elite are honored to get the finishing touches for the Australian Open. Ash Barty, Naomi Osaka and Aryna Sabalenka, among others, have confirmed their start.
Just behind, however, there are now some rejections to report: With Garbine Muguruza, Belinda Bencic and Jelena Ostapenko, three top women recently pulled out for the WTA 500 event in Adelaide. In Melbourne, however, the Swiss Jil Teichmann will be absent. With Ash Barty and Aryna Sabalenka, the first two of the WTA world rankings, however, continue to appear in the starting field for Adelaide. The event in Melbourne will be led by Naomi Osaka and Jessica Pegula after top seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova tested positive for COVID-19 and had to cancel.
Cancellation without giving reasons
The trio Muguruza, Bencic and Ostapenko have not yet given any reasons for their cancellations. For the Swiss Bencic, the training backlog due to a somewhat severe COVID-19 infection after her appearance at the Mubadala World Tennis Championships in Abu Dhabi seems the most likely explanation. The Olympic champion from Tokyo had complained of severe symptoms after her illness.
The days of arrival for the multi-week stay on the women's and men's tour are not a good star due to COVID-19. The mandatory tests after arriving Down Under have so far revealed some positive test results for the coronavirus. Accordingly, it is currently uncertain whether Bencic, Muguruza and Ostapenko will be the only cancellations for the event that starts on January 3rd in Adelaide. In Melbourne, Naomi Osaka & Co will start playing on January 4th.