Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina has withdrawn from the Eastbourne International, sparking concerns over her fitness for this year’s Wimbledon.
Moscow-born Rybakina, who represents Kazakhstan, won her first Grand Slam title last year, with this year’s tournament beginning on 3 July.
The 24-year-old also reached the final of the Australian Open in January.
Rybakina said she is still recovering from a virus that caused her to withdraw from the French Open in June.
“My team and I decided it would be better to recover this week and prepare for Wimbledon,” she said.
“I am still recovering from the virus I had in Paris and after Roland Garros it was really tough.
“I also picked up another small issue in Berlin.”
Rybakina lost to Donna Vekic in the last 16 in Germany last week and said she was not 100% physically.
Ranked third in the world, Rybakina had been the top seed for the tournament at Eastbourne and has been replaced by Croatian lucky loser Petra Martic, who will face British number one Katie Boulter in the opening round.
There are three Britons in the women’s singles with Jodie Burrage and Harriet Dart playing American Lauren Davis and China’s Zhang Shuai respectively.
Meanwhile, Sean Williams hit 174 off 101 balls as Zimbabwe crushed the United States by 304 runs Monday at the Cricket World Cup qualifiers, the second biggest winning margin in terms of runs in ODI history.
Hosts Zimbabwe made their highest one-day total with a mammoth 408-6 off 50 overs and then bowled out the USA for just 104 to seal a fourth straight win in Group A.
They narrowly missed breaking the record for the biggest margin of victory in a one-day international, set at the start of the year when India thrashed Sri Lanka by 317 runs in Thiruvananthapuram.
Wicketkeeper Joylord Gumbie struck a steady 78 at the top of the order but Williams played the starring role as Zimbabwe stepped on the accelerator once the stand-in captain arrived at the crease.
Williams hit 21 fours and five sixes before he was caught in the deep in the penultimate over, with Sikandar Raza scoring 48 off 27 balls and Ryan Burl hammering 47 off just 16 deliveries.
