- The Washington Times - Tuesday, June 29, 2021

The Olympic tennis field will be without two more top players as world No. 3 Simona Halep and three-time Grand Slam title winner Stan Wawrinka announced their withdrawal Tuesday from the games, thinning the competition in Tokyo. 

Halep and Wawrinka join four-time gold medalist Serena Williams, 20-time major winner Rafael Nadal and U.S. Champion Dominic Theim, who are missing the Olympic games. 

Halep, a Romanian star, said that she will not recover in time from a calf injury in a tweet. 

“Nothing brings me more pride than representing Romania, but sadly the recovery from my calf injury requires more time and I have made my decision to withdraw from the Olympic Games this summer,” Halep tweeted. 

She injured her leg in May during a second-round match in Rome. Halep has missed the French Open and Wimbledon due to the injury. This is the second-straight Olympic games Halep has missed after skipping the 2016 Rio Olympics over concerns of catching the Zika virus. 

Wawrinka pulled out of the summer games as he recovers from foot surgery. The 2008 Olympic doubles gold medalist hasn’t played since March due to the injury. 



Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

Please read our comment policy before commenting.

Click to Read More and View Comments

Click to Hide