After retiring from her Australian Open match, Elina Svitolina has now withdrawn from the 2024 Austria Open Linz.
It's been a really interesting few months for the Ukrainian, who came back to tennis last year after her pregnancy. It was quite a slow start for Svitolina initially, but then she amazed most people with her high level.
She played well at Roland Garros. She played well at Wimbledon, and she also won a trophy as a mother. It was about as good of a run as you could imagine, and this year didn't start any worse.
She made the final in Auckland but lost to Coco Gauff. She played well at the Australian Open, too, but injured herself and had to retire. It was a devastating finish for Svitolina as the run looked promising, and the draw was pretty open.
She could have made a semi-final or even final, but we'll never know as she got injured. The injury seems more serious than initially anticipated because she abandoned plans to play in Linz.
She was initially scheduled to make her return at the event in Austria but now withdrew. The fact is Svitolina won't be playing at the WTA 500 event in Linz, and the tournament organizers announced it on social media.
"Elina Svitolina unfortunately had to pull out before the start of our tournament. Elina tried everything to be fit in time, but she hasn‘t fully recovered yet from her back problems that were already bothering her at the Australian Open. Get well soon, Elina!"
Her return will probably take a few weeks, and fans probably won't get to see her before the Sunshine Double in the United States. Hopefully, this injury is not serious, and she will come back fully healthy because she has been one of the better players in the past couple of weeks.
Not having her around would not be ideal for fans and fellow players, because she's been a source of inspiration since coming back as a mother.