Aryna Sabalenka carries ‘annoying’ injury into uncertain Wimbledon campaign

A week after retiring from a tour-level match for the first time in her career, two-time Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka says she isn’t fully recovered to play Wimbledon.

The world No. 3 arrived for the season’s third major after having to end her Berlin campaign in the quarterfinals with shoulder pain.

“We're doing everything we can with my team to make sure I'll be able to play my first match here,” she updated press during Saturday’s media day at The Championships.

“I'm not 100% ready.”

Sabalenka shared she doesn’t want to jeopardize the remainder of the season, while maintaining optimism that she’ll be able to step out on court Monday for her opening match with Emina Bektas. When asked about the discomfort she is coping with, the 26-year-old pointed to the teres major muscle and described the challenge of working through it.

“It's really a specific injury, and it's really a rare one. Probably I'm just the second or the third tennis player who injured that muscle,” Sabalenka said.

“The most annoying thing is that I can do anything. I can practice, I can hit my groundstrokes. I'm struggling with serving. That's really annoying. You don't feel like you're injured. If you give me some weights, I'm going to go lift some weights. But if you tell me to serve, I'm going to go through pain.

“But I still have my hopes.”

We're doing everything we can with my team to make sure I'll be able to play my first match here. —Aryna Sabalenka

In two of the past three years, Sabalenka has reached the semifinals at the All England Club—dropping heartbreaking contests after holding one-set leads on both occasions. Searching for her maiden grass-court trophy, Sabalenka also looks to rejoin the winners’ circle for the first time since retaining her crown in Melbourne.

“I would say that I never come on the tournament with the high expectations,” she stated.

“Of course, I know my level. I know what I'm capable of. I never put myself under so much pressure.”