The new US Open champion Naomi Osaka has pulled out of the 2020 French Open which starts later this month with a hamstring injury.
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It is the same injury which forced her to pull of the Cincinnati Open final last month, and which, at one stage, threatened her participation in New York.
Osaka claimed her third Grand Slam title last weekend, coming from a set down to beat Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. The 22-year old played that match with heavy strapping on her thigh, although that did not appear to affect her movement. However, she has now decided that due its timing, the French Open comes too soon for her to have recovered in time.
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It is not clear when she will be fit enough to play again this season.
Osaka may not have been a major contender in Paris anyway – the 22-year old Japanese woman has never been beyond the third round there in any of her previous attempts.
However, her absence is a blow to organisers of the event, who already have had to accept the absence of Ashleigh Barty of Australia, who has declined to play the tournament this year because of her fears about the threat posed by the coronavirus.
It means that Simona Halep of Romania, who chose to miss the US Open because of her own health concerns, will now start as top seed and favourite for the title (French Open predictions here).
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The main draw of the event begins on September 27
In other bad news for French Open, which was moved from its original start date of late May because of the global pandemic, the number of fans allowed to attend daily has now been cut to 5,000.
Initially the French Tennis Federation had planned for 11,500 fans to be allowed into the Roland Garros tennis complex, confining them in specified zones around three show courts. However, after consulting with the local authorities, and in view of the evolving health situation in the Paris area, that number has now been reduced to 5,000.
The number of new cases of Covid-19 in France now exceeds 10,000 day as the threatened second wave of the virus now starts to appear.
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