World no. 1 Ashleigh Barty forced to retire from French Open with Injury

World no. 1 Ashleigh Barty forced to retire from French Open with Injury

World number 1 Ashleigh Barty’s French Open has come to an end as the Australian was made to retire from her second round match against Magda Linette with a hip injury.

This was the first time the top seed was competing at Roland Garros since she won the tournament in 2019. This comes days after world number 2 Naomi Osaka opted to withdraw from the tournament due to injury. Barty must of thought that she was in with a very good chance of winning in Paris again.

Prior to the tournament, there was a lot of question marks over Barty and whether she would be able to compete to the best of her ability after playing in 5 tournaments with only one week of rest.

It was clear to see that she was struggling with her movement in her first round match against Bernarda Pera where she narrowly won in 3 sets. However Barty could only manage 11 games against Linette having to retire from the competition when she was a set down and level at 2 all in the second set.

“It’s heartbreaking” Barty told reporters afterwards. “We did everything we could to give myself a chance. It was a small miracle that we were able to get on court for that first round”. She will now hope that she can recover in time for the grass court season and be fully fit for Wimbledon.

With the top 2 seeds now out of the competition, it opens up an opportunity for other players like Aryna Sabalenka to possibly win their first grand slam on clay in Paris.

Magda Linette progresses to the third-round after 2019 Champion Ashleigh Barty retires due to injury, 6-1, 2-2 [ret].

The Pole meets Ons Jabeur next. #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/qZvFBe3GaL

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 3, 2021

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