MONTREAL: Former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard(pix) said Friday she had withdrawn from the Championships because the lack of world rankings points doesn’t fit with her plans to manage her return from injury.
“I have decided to withdraw from Wimbledon due to the WTA’s decision to not award ranking points at this year’s Championships,“ the Canadian said in a social media post.
The WTA and ATP stripped Wimbledon of world ranking points over the event’s ban on Russian and Belarussian players.
Bouchard, 28, suffered a shoulder injury on the way to the final at the Guadalajara Open in March of 2021.
After conservative treatment efforts failed she underwent surgery in June of last year, her ranking plummeting as she was sidelined for months.
“Due to my shoulder surgery, I get a limited number of protected ranking (PR) entries,“ Bouchard wrote. “As much as I love Wimbledon and skipping it makes me sad, using a PR entry at a tournament with no rankings points doesn’t make sense.
“I must choose wisely and use my PR entries at tournaments that will help me get back to where I want to be.”
Bouchard said she still planned to return to action this year, and expected to use PR entries at the US Open and next year’s Australian Open.
Bouchard reached the Wimbledon final in 2014, the same year she reached a career-high No. 5 in the world rankings. She reached the semi-finals of the Australian and French Opens that year, but her career has since been hindered by injuries.-AFP