Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky, a two-time semi-finalist at the French Open, pulled out of the women’s singles draw on Saturday due to an ongoing calf injury.
“It’s with sadness that I’ve decided to pull out of Roland-Garros,” said Bacsinszky, who suffered the injury in training but compounded matters by competing at Rabat, Morocco earlier this month.
“The scans I underwent yesterday (Friday) suggest it’s better for me not to play. It has not totally healed, it needs another two to three weeks.”
Bacsinszky, a semi-finalist in the French capital 2015 and 2017, could have competed but risked aggravating her injury.
She added: “The doctors told me I could compete no problem, but that if I did, I also ran the risk of tearing my calf even more.”
Having reached a career-high of ninth in the world, Bacsinszky has dropped to 63rd as her nightmare season goes from bad to worse.
The 28-year-old Swiss has yet to register a win following three first-round exits in Saint Petersburg, Indian Wells and Miami.
The French Open, where Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko is the defending women’s champion, begins on Sunday.