Aryna Sabalenka gives sunny outlook for her future schedule
By Lee Vowell
Aryna Sabalenka likes to play a lot of tennis. She has already played in 10 tournaments in 2024 and she played in more at the same point in 2023. She has had a bit of a rough year overall, though. She had to deal with the sudden death of her former boyfriend, and later she was forced to withdraw from Wimbledon with a shoulder injury.
She had to feel even worse about having to pull out of the grass-court major after watching so many top seeds fall ahead of the semifinals. The Belarusian has not yet won at Wimbledon but her big serve and bombastic forehand have gotten her to the semifinals previously. She would have had a great chance to take her first title in London.
The shoulder problem began at the Berlin Open in a lead-up to Wimbledon. She tried to give it a go at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club but her shoulder would not let her. She withdrew prior to her first-round match.
Aryna Sabalenka gives update on her shoulder injury
Past the Grand Slam, Sabalenka planned to willingly take some time off, instead, she was forced to do so. That might all be a blessing in disguise, though. She chose not to try for the Olympics as she would not have been able to represent Belarus due to the war in Ukraine. This meant some downtime for her and some rest.
Sabalenka took to social media to end any speculation about her being out for a longer period of time than expected, however. A fan asked her on Instagram about the status of her shoulder injury and the Belarusian responded by saying, "My last ultrasound showed that my shoulder has healed, so I got to start playing tennis again this week."
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As far as what will be her next event, she stated simply, "Washington D.C." This means she will be playing at the Citi Open which begins on July 29.
The Citi Open is one of several important tournaments, as well as the Cincinnati Open and the National Bank Open, ahead of the US Open. The next Grand Slam - and final one of 2024 - will begin on August 26. Aryna Sabalenka appears set to be there.
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