Daily Times

LONDON: Karen Khachanov has been forced to withdraw from the Wimbledon Championships next month after the Russian said on Friday he had suffered a stress fracture in his back at the French Open. Ranked number 11 in the world, Khachanov reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros where he took a set off Novak Djokovic before losing to the Serbian who eventually won the title. The 27-year-old Russian was one of the in-form players at Grand Slams in the past 12 months having also reached the semi-finals of the U.S. Open last year and the Australian Open in January. “Due to an unfortunate injury I picked up at the French Open(stress fracture and a partial fracture in sacrum S1 bone), I will not be able to participate at Wimbledon for the second year in a row,” Khachanov said on Instagram. “The decision to withdraw was not an easy one and I was hopping till the end during these few weeks that I would be able to recover, however my medical team ensured me that in my case it wasn’t possible.” Khachanov was unable to play at Wimbledon last year due to the ban on Russian and Belarusian players. The ban was lifted for this year’s Championships with players from both countries allowed to compete as ‘neutrals’. The Wimbledon Championships begin on July 3.