World number two and tournament top seed Barbora Krejcikova has withdrawn from this week’s ATP/WTA Indian Wells Masters tournament after failing to overcome an arm injury.
Barbora came from early eliminations in Doha and Dubai and was training in Indian Wells with a protection on her right elbow.
She was seeded 1 after the drop of Australian leader Ashleigh Barty, who will also not play in the event as she will be out of Miami.
“I am deeply saddened and disappointed to have to withdraw from the BNP Paribas Open. I was so looking forward to going to Indian Wells to play. However, unfortunately I won’t be able to do it this year.” Barbora said.
“I have had constant pain in my arm since the Doha Championships. In the end, I was forced to make a very difficult decision, which was to withdraw from the tournament.
“I will focus on treatment and hopefully be able to return to the field as soon as possible,” Barbora added.
The 25-year-old had won at Strasbourg in May and at Roland Garros in June, before being knocked out in the round of 16 at Wimbledon against Barty.
Outside of the main tournament, Krejcikova will also not participate in the series of exhibitions commemorating International Women’s Day that would take place this Tuesday at Stadium 2 of Indian Wells. The charity event will bring together eight players in the Tie Break Tens format.
France’s Alize Cornet will take Krejcikova’s spot in the main draw. Cornet will face the winner between the Swedish Rebecca Peterson or a tennis player coming from qualifying.
Another tennis player directly affected by the change in the bracket was Croatian Ana Konjuh. At first, she would be Cornet’s rival in the premiere. She will have a rival coming from qualifying or lucky-loser. If she wins, she challenges the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in the next round.
