Bothered by a painful hip, top-ranked Ash Barty retired Thursday from her second-round match at the French Open, leaving the clay-court Grand Slam tournament without any of the top three women in the rankings.
The 2019 champion trailed 6-1, 2-2 when she signaled that she couldn’t continue against Polish opponent Magda Linette on Court Philippe Chatrier.
“I was battling the pain, and it just became too severe, and like I said, was becoming unsafe,” Barty said of the injury that had flared up during training before the tournament.
In addition to Barty’s departure, No. 2 Naomi Osaka withdrew after the first round _ she said she is going to take a break from competition for mental health reasons _ and No. 3 Simona Halep pulled out before the tournament began because of a leg injury.
In the buildup to this year’s French Open, Barty played 13 matches on clay and won 11. She posted a record of 27-5 and won three singles titles before Roland Garros. But she was forced to retire in the quarterfinals in Rome in May because of an injury to her right arm. She said that injury had healed and did not hamper her in Paris.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Barty said. “We have had such a brilliant clay-court season, and to kind of get a little bit unlucky with timing, more than anything, to have something kind of acute happen over the weekend and just kind of run out of time against the clock is disappointing.”
The Australian started the match with her left thigh bandaged and it was immediately clear she could not move properly. Too slow to chase her opponent’s shots, she struggled in long rallies and with her first serve.
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