Angelique Kerber has cancelled her start at the Premier Mandatory Tournament in Madrid (starting Sunday). The world ranking elf is still suffering from a muscular injury in her right thigh. Laura Siegemund is also unable to participate in the high-calibre sand court tournament in the Spanish capital due to calf blasts.
Last week at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Kerber had to break off her round of 16 against Anett Kontaveit (Estonia) at a score of 0:6, 0:2 due to complaints in her thigh. On Tuesday, the 30-year-old had posted a photo of her during a treatment. It said, “I’ll do my best to get back on the court as soon as possible.”
Kerber now plans to intervene in the tournament again at the event in Rome (from 13 May). Her last tournament on the red ashes this season will be the French Open in Paris (27 May to 10 June).
The Kieler has little points to defend from the last clay court season. In 2017 she failed in her opening matches in Stuttgart as well as in Rome and Roland Garros. In Madrid, the two-time Grand Slam winner made it into the round of 16.
Their best result in the Caja Mágica sports complex dates back to 2013, when Angie had reached the quarter-finals of the Mutua Madrid Open – and lost to Ana Ivanovic (Serbia). Kerber will lose her status as Germany’s number one in the coming week to Julia Görges (Bad Oldesloe) due to her resignation from Madrid.
Besides Kerber and the ill Serena Williams (USA), Laura Siegemund will also be absent from the main field of the 6.69 million dollar tournament. The 30-year-old had to break off her round of 16 in Rabat/Morocco against top seeded Elise Mertens (Belgium) on Wednesday due to a calf injury. The Swabian had had the same problems in Lugano two weeks earlier and had not finished her opening match as a precaution.
After a cruciate ligament rupture and an eleven-month break, Siegemund did not return to the WTA tour until the beginning of April. At her home game in Stuttgart the defending champion had shown a great performance and only failed in the round of the last 16 against the later finalist Coco Vandeweghe (USA). After a hard fight in three sets.
Since she could not defend last year’s points at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Siegemund slipped 126 places (!!!) down to 226th place in the world rankings.