Wimbledon Champion Marketa Vondrousova Withdraws From 2025 Italian Open

Marketa Vondrousova withdrew from the 2025 Italian Open in Rome after an injury prevented her from playing her first-round match.

Vondrousova is one of the most talented players on the WTA Tour. The Czech player proved that when she reached the French Open final in 2019 as a teenager, and also when she lifted the Wimbledon trophy in 2023.

Unfortunately, she is also one of the players who always seem to be struggling with injuries. Despite breaking into the Top 10 thanks to her win at Wimbledon, Vondrousova now finds herself well out of the Top 50 again, as she spent plenty of time away from the courts.

That period will extend, as she has now withdrawn from yet another tournament. In March, Vondrousova announced a brief break from tennis, but she was set to return in Rome, taking on Xinyu Wang in the first round.

Shortly before her match, however, Vondrousova announced that she wouldn't be able to play the match. She announced her withdrawal on social media.

The fact that Vondrousova waited with her withdrawal until the last moment should be a positive sign, though. The Czech player will now want to make sure she is ready for Roland Garros, which starts on May 25th.

In the Italian Open draw, the Wimbledon champion was replaced by Kamilla Rakhimova, who took her spot as a lucky loser and will attempt to set up a second-round meeting with the 10th-seeded Emma Navarro.

Unfortunately, Vondrousova's withdrawal was also met by some inappropriate behavior from some of the fans, or better said, individuals who follow the sport.

Tennis players often share messages that they receive after losing their matches, mostly from angry bettors who lost money. This time, no one lost money, as Vondrousova withdrew from the event, but she still received hateful messages.

One person sent the Czech player a few disgusting messages, which she shared on her stories, pointing out that tennis players can't avoid such treatment "even when there is no match."

Vondrousova will want to ignore such people, but one thing she won't be able to ignore is the drop in the WTA Rankings that she will suffer as a result of her withdrawal from the Italian Open.

The former Wimbledon champion will now leave the Top 70, dropping to at least the World No. 73 position. Her ranking might soon make it challenging for her to enter WTA 1000 tournaments without a wild card.