Aryna Sabalenka's Rare Injury May Cause Her to Miss Wimbledon

Aryna Sabalenka cast doubt on her ability to play at Wimbledon due to a rare shoulder injury.

Aryna Sabalenka is dealing with a rare shoulder injury. / Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

Aryna Sabalenka started the year off with a bang by winning the Australian Open. After her second Grand Slam victory, Sabalenka lost in the French Open quarterfinals and was forced to retire from her Berlin quarterfinal match against Anna Kalinskaya last week.

The World No. 3 player is dealing with what she describes as a "very rare" shoulder injury, and it may cause her to miss Wimbledon. Sabalenka shared that it is an injury to her teres major.

She told the media, "I call it just shoulder injury. 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. [It's] a very frustrating one. 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."

Sabalenka continued, "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. We did an MRI; we did everything. We did a lot of rehab, a lot of treatments."

Aryna Sabalenka may not be able to play Wimbledon. / Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

When asked if there was a chance she might not be able to player in her first-round match on Monday, she responded: "There is always a chance, yeah."

This news may come as surprise to many fans. Earlier this week, the official Wimbledon social media accounts shared videos of Sabalenka practicing and dancing with Ons Jabeur.

Injuries and scheduling issues have wreaked havoc on the tennis world this summer. Hopefully, Sabalenka will be healthy and able to play by Monday. Tennis fans can follow Sports Illustrated's Serve on SI for all the most important news from the sport.

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