Roddick withdraws from French Open
A shoulder injury rules the world number six out of the Tournament.
 |
| Andy Roddick has been troubled by a shoulder injury [GALLO/GETTY] |
It’s a blow for the organisers of the French Open tennis championship which is set to begin on Sunday.
One of the top players in the men’s game, Andy Roddick withdrew on Monday due to a right shoulder injury.
He’s not a huge competitive loss as the world No. 6 isn’t that good on clay, reaching the French third round as a rookie in 2001, but exiting in Round 1 the last two years.
Roddick has star power, however, having reached three other Grand Slam finals, losing twice to Roger Federer at Winbledon and once to him at the U.S. Open.
A retirement from the semifinals of this year’s Rome Masters on May 10 led to Roddick skipping the Hamburg Masters. Now he’s out of France.
Australia’s best player, Lleyton Hewitt, is still a possible starter having had a month to heal a hip injury that has bothered him all season.
He’ll apparently be making a decision later this week.
And the biggest blow was the one that fell last week when Justine Henin, the world’s No. 1 women’s player, announced her retirement, having had enough of both the grind and battling constant injury.
She won’t defend her French Open title.
Maria Sharapova pulled out of the Italian event because of a calf injury, but is expected to find her way to Roland-Garros.