Ahead of this year’s French Open, one of last year’s finalists – world No. 21 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – announced that she would be withdrawing from the tournament and ending her 2022 season due to a knee injury.
The 30-year-old finished as the runner-up to Barbora Krejcikova at Roland Garros last year in her first-ever Grand Slam final. She also won the mixed doubles gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics last summer.
This season, though, Pavlyuchenkova sat out 10 weeks after the Australian Open with a nagging knee injury. While she won the doubles title with Veronika Kudermetova at the Italian Open last week, she said that experience made her realize she needed to step back.
“The last two tournaments [have] showed me that the pain was still there and I wasn’t ready,” Pavlyuchenkova wrote in a statement posted on Twitter. “So I have decided to take more time and come back stronger next year!”
Update ! @rolandgarros 🫶♥️ pic.twitter.com/cEBOiTvmNY— Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (@NastiaPav) May 17, 2022
Update ! @rolandgarros 🫶♥️ pic.twitter.com/cEBOiTvmNY
Pavlyuchenkova had played in 14 straight French Open main draws dating back to 2008. In that time, she has missed just one Grand Slam tournament: the U.S. Open in 2020.World No. 21 Pavlyuchenkova ends season due to knee injury