- The Washington Times - Tuesday, June 29, 2021

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

Halep and Wawrinka join four-time gold medalist Serena Williams, 20-time major winner Rafael Nadal and U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem in passing on the Games that begin next month.

Halep said in a tweet that she will not recover in time from a calf injury to be able to compete.

“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 wrote.

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 Zikavirus.

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.

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