Dominic Thiem‘s hardcourt debut for the year will have to wait as he has pulled out of the Cincinnati Open due to an illness.
Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka‘s Canadian Open campaign ended in the first round itself as she was forced to retire due to a back injury in the second set. In the men’s draw, former World No. 1 Andy Murray was knocked out in the first round by Taylor Fritz.
Brandon Nakashima, Sebastian Korda and Shelby Rogers were among the latest recipients of the Cincinnati Open wildcards.
The biggest news of the day, however, was Serena Williams‘ retirement. After more than two decades on the tour, the American announced that she’ll walk away from tennis soon.
Here’s a round-up of the day’s headlines:
Dominic Thiem is currently down with a respiratory illness and has withdrawn from next week’s Cincinnati Open.
Thiem is yet to play a hardcourt tournament this year. After a disappointing start to his comeback, the Austrian gathered some momentum by doing well in a few clay events last month.
Thiem reached the quarterfinals at the Swedish Open and the Kitzbuhel Open. He then went a step further at the Swiss Open, where he made it to the semifinals.
The 28-year-old now plans to return to action at the Winston-Salem Open, which will be held from August 20-27.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka was forced to retire in the first round of the Canadian Open with a back injury.
Up against Kaia Kanepi, she trailed by a break twice in the opening set, but fought back to force a tie-break. The Estonian came out on top in the tie-break and led 3-0 in the second set before Osaka called it quits.
She is slated to compete at next week’s Cincinnati Open, but might withdraw if the injury doesn’t heal in time.
Sebastian Korda, Brandon Nakashima, Shelby Rogers and Ben Shelton were among the latest players to be awarded the Cincinnati Open wildcards. The doubles pairing of Steve Johnson and William Blumberg also received their wildcards.
Nick Kyrgios, J.J. Wolf, Venus Williams, Sofia Kenin and Sloane Stephens were the earlier allocated wildcards.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray was no match for Taylor Fritz in the first round of the Canadian Open. The American completely outplayed the former World No. 1 from start to finish.
Fritz was up 5-0 in the opening set before Murray managed a hold of serve. The 24-year-old closed out the set after that. The Brit improved slightly in the second set, but his opponent claimed the last four games of the match to win 6-1, 6-3.
This was Murray’s first Canadian Open appearance since he won the title in 2015. He’ll be aiming for a better showing at next week’s Cincinnati Open.
Former World No. 1 Serena Williams has announced that she is set to retire soon.
In an emotional essay for the September issue of Vogue, the American stated that the countdown for her retirement is on. The 23-time Grand Slam champion also spoke about how difficult it has been for her to make this decision.
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While Williams didn’t announce a definitive date for her impending retirement, the US Open is expected to be her farewell tournament. She’s currently competing at the Canadian Open and is up against Belinda Bencic in the second round.
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