Marketa Vondrousova made a surprising run at last year's Wimbledon, winning the trophy, but her title defense might be in jeopardy after a slip at the Berlin Open.
The 24-year-old Czech is one of the best players in the world, and her results back that up. She's solid on all surfaces and had a good run at Roland Garros recently, reaching the quarter-finals. Only Iga Swiatek bested her in Paris, so she was trending in a positive direction.
Unfortunately, her Berlin Open experience ended in the second round and in terrible fashion because she was playing really well before getting injured. Her opponent was Anna Kalinskaya, whom Vondrousova was easily outplayed until the moment she slipped.
It was 5-3 for the Cezch player as she served for the first set. She slipped a few meters behind the baseline, almost making a split, which is obviously very painful. She got up fairly quickly but was in serious pain, judging by her grimacing, and her opponent and the umpire both checked up on her.
She received a medical time-out, and initially, it seemed that she could continue to play, but after serving three consecutive double faults, she lost the game and the break.
She then failed to move at all in the return game when Kalinskaya stepped up to serve and opted to retire after that, as it was clear that she was in no state to play tennis.
The injury is obviously the main problem for Vondrousova. She really doesn't want to miss any time on the tennis court because she's already missed quite some time in her career with various injuries.
The other problem is that she's the defending champion at Wimbledon after making a surprise run last year. As a result, she's defending 2000 points and the trophy, and this injury may put that in serious jeopardy.