Overview
- Aryna Sabalenka, the world’s top-ranked player, pulled out of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart due to an injury she says happened after the Miami Open.
- In a social media message, she told fans she tried to recover in time and was sorry to miss a tournament she called special.
- The scratch removes the leading draw card from a WTA 500 event in Germany that also includes Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina, and Iga Świątek.
- Sabalenka holds 11,205 ranking points, more than 3,000 ahead of Rybakina, which means skipping Stuttgart is unlikely to affect her position.
- Her absence follows earlier skips of the mandatory Qatar and Dubai events that brought fines and points penalties, renewing focus on a crowded WTA schedule that the tour says a new council is reviewing.