Injury has again forced 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu out of the US Open.
After officially withdrawing from the women's singles draw on Saturday, the Canadian, now 23, is set to miss the event for the second time since she stormed to the title in her tournament debut as a 19-year-old. That year, she became the first player from her country to win a Grand Slam singles title and the first teenage US Open champion in more than a decade.
Earlier this month, the Canadian revealed that she had been diagnosed with a "small stress fracture" in her back, and withdrew from the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati that was played last week. She started feeling pain, she said, in the summer's first hard-court event, the Mubadala Citi DC Open, and "did everything [she] could" to be able to play in on home soil in Montreal a week later.
There, she appeared to be hampered in a first-round loss to Camila Giorgi, and told reporters afterwards that she'd been struggling with pain in her SI joint, which had troubled her before.
"My main focus will be on giving my back the rest it needs," Andreescu wrote in an Aug. 12 social media post where she announced her Cincinnati withdrawal. "I'll be taking things day by day and aiming to return to the court as soon as I can and stay optimistic for US Open. Your support means the world to me.”
Andreescu was slated to play 2018 US Open quarterfinalist Lesia Tsurenko in the opening round on Tuesday. Instead, the Ukrainian will now face a qualifier or a lucky loser, who will be drawn at the conclusion of Saturday's final qualifying round.
