World No.3 Aryna Sabalenka will not play at the Paris Olympics, saying she the scheduling of the women’s tennis tour makes it impossible to do so and protect her health. Tunisia’s world No.10 Ons Jabeur later said she was also missing Paris for the same reason. Sabalenka hit out at what she deemed “simply bad planning from the WTA”. “After the Olympics we have to fly straight to Canada for a mandatory event. That is too much pressure and affects the health,” Sabalenka said.
” The Paris Olympics tennis tournament is July 27-August 4, the Canadian event in the form of the Toronto Masters beginning just two days later from August 6-12. Other big names to pull out include world No.6 Andrey Rublev and fellow stars Ben Shelton and Karen Khachanov on the men’s side, and Liudmila Samsonova and Elise Mertens from the women’s draw. Australia will be led by new world No.7 Alex de Minaur but the country’s No.