Stan Wawrinka will not be competing at the 2022 Geneva Open due to injury as he faces his first setback in his comeback season.
The Swiss one-hander had been out of action for a year after shutting down his season in March 2021 because of a foot injury. Wawrinka would require two operations before he was cleared to return to competition at this year's clay-court swing.
He played his first tournament of the current campaign at the Marbella Challenger at the end of March, losing to Elias Ymer. Wawrinka had to wait until May to win his first match in 15 months at the Italian Open, beating Reilly Opelka in three sets.
The 37-year-old backed up that success by defeating Laslo Djere in his next round before exiting the tournament in the round of 16 at the hands of Novak Djokovic.
But before his involvement at the Geneva Open next week, Wawrinka has informed tournament organizers in his home country that he won't be playing at the ATP 250 event, which serves as the final warm-up stop before Roland Garros.
The three-time Grand Slam champion was awarded a wild card to play in front of his local crowd on the Geneva clay after his ranking tanked to outside the Top 300.
Tournament director Thierry Grin expressed his disappointment as the two-time Geneva champion prioritizes his health. This could be a precaution as the Wawrinka might possibly have one eye for the French Open, a tournament he famously won in 2015 by beating World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
"It's a disappointment because obviously we are in Switzerland, he won the tournament twice, he was the ambassador of the tournament for the first three years after it returned to Geneva,"
Despite Wawrinka's absence, there are still plenty of interesting names to watch in the Swiss city, including Daniil Medvedev who makes his return from hernia surgery.
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