Tennis news round-up: Jabeur, Shapovalov sidelined with knee injuries, FAA’s Alcaraz warning and Halep update

Wimbledon runner-up Ons Jabeur is the latest to miss an upcoming event through injury, while Denis Shapovalov – who made the tournament’s semifinals in 2021 – finds himself enduring similarly bad injury luck at a crucial juncture of the calendar as far as their season goals are concerned…

Shapovalov’s hoping for no surgery, may be out a while

• The Canadian’s understandable hesitancy to receive knee surgery comes at a cost as 2023 season reaches the business end with US Open at the end of August, and an event on home soil fast approaching
• Two-time Major champion Simona Halep’s wait to clear her name after year-long drug suspension continues while Felix Auger-Aliassime motivated by the success of maiden Wimbledon titlist Carlos Alcaraz
  
• “It awakens my competitive side, I also allow myself to speak for the other players – we don’t want to let him win every tournament, it motivates me to do the right things,” Auger-Aliassime told Le Journal de Montreal
  
• Former world no. 2 Paula Badosa back training before the hard court season resumes after retiring from Wimbledon matchup vs. Marta Kostyuk with a recurrence of spinal stress fracture last month; former world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki’s return from retirement set for August 8

Denis Shapovalov was scheduled to resume his hard court campaign this week in Washington but a lingering knee injury has forced the Canadian to withdraw.

The world no. 23 would naturally be eyeing participation in his home event, the Toronto Masters, which starts on August 7 – but it doesn’t make sense to continue playing through pain without sustained success.

As he divulged after losing in four sets against Russia’s Roman Safiullin at SW19 earlier this month, the 24-year-old said he’d need a two-month break – minimum – to remedy the issue and that’s a rough timeline without going on the operating table.

“Towards the end of the match, I couldn’t walk let alone play – probably the worst it’s been in a long time. Need to see some more specialists, see what I can do, but I think I’ve held off enough ranking points.. maybe it’s time to take a break, try fix this and come back for the fall.”

Staying on the injury front, Jabeur – not new to injury woes already this season – withdrew from the National Bank Open with an unresolved knee issue of her own.

She had minor knee surgery before clinching the Charleston title in April, and skipped the Madrid Open a few weeks later after sustaining a small left calf tear which saw her withdraw during her Stuttgart semifinal against Swiatek days earlier.

The three-time Major finalist will be optimistic about her chances of a successful recovery back to full fitness before long, but time is of the essence as far as bouncing back from adversity as the season’s big remaining events come thick and fast.

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WTA calendar: The next six big events…
July 31: Washington Open – WTA 500
August 7: Canadian Open – WTA 1000
Aug. 14: Cincinnati Open – WTA 1000
Aug. 28: US Open – Grand Slam
September 11: San Diego Open – WTA 500
Sept. 18: Guadalajara Open – WTA 1000

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Elsewhere, staying with women’s tennis…

Romanian Tennis Federation president George Cosac has claimed the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) doesn’t want to stain their reputation or compensate Simona Halep for loss of earnings after her drugs ban continues lingering.

[Does she play this year’s US Open?] “If you ask me, no. If she is innocent, she can claim damages of millions of Euros while she did not play and if she were clean, they would sanction her because they would lose their whole image. They will give her a minimum suspension to cover the situation they created.”

On the topic of former world no. 1 players, two-time Major finalist Karolina Pliskova has again split from highly-rated coach Sascha Bajin after enduring a spell of poor form featuring six defeats in her last seven matches on three different surfaces.

The 38-year-old won the inaugural WTA Coach of the Year award in 2018 and oversaw Naomi Osaka’s first two Major titles in consecutive Grand Slam tournaments (US Open, Australian Open) pre-pandemic – plenty has changed since then on tour.

Picture source: Getty Images, quotes hyperlinked