Devastating news for Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova ahead of Australian Open 2025

Barbora Krejcikova has become the biggest star to withdraw from the 2025 Australian Open so far. The Czech No. 1 also skipped the warm-up tournaments before the year's first Grand Slam.

The World No. 10 turned the tides of her under-par 2024 season in the second half with an improbable triumph at the Wimbledon Championships and a semifinal run at the WTA Finals. She was expected to build on the momentum in early 2025. However, things have not gone according to plan, as Krejcikova has withdrawn from the 2025 Australian Open.

The Czech did not sign up to play any tournaments of the Australian hard court swing ahead of the Australian Open, where she was slotted as the 10th seed in the women's singles main draw. Krejcikova was defending a considerable chunk of her ranking points at Melbourne this year after a quarterfinal run in 2024. She will now be placed by World No. 102 Rebecca Marino of Canada.

The reason behind Krejcikova's withdrawal from the 2025 Australian Open is not yet known. Former World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova and former Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki have also withdrawn from the tournament.

Australian Open was Barbora Krejcikova's third-best tournament in 2024

Barbora Krejcikova (Source: Getty)

Barbora Krejcikova's 2024 season was full of ups and downs. She began the year by reaching the quarterfinals at the Australian Open for the second time in her career after 2022. The former French Open champion was seeded ninth in Melbourne and defeated Mai Hontama, Tamara Korpatsch, Storm Hunter, and Mirra Andreeva before losing to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka.

With this quarterfinal run, Krejcikova earned 430 ranking points. The Australian Open was the only highlight of her season in the first half as she failed to win two matches in a row till the grass-court swing. She reached the quarterfinals at the WTA 250 Birmingham Classic before winning her second singles Grand Slam title at Wimbledon.

Krejcikova was seeded 31st in London and defeated Veronika Kudermetova, Katie Volynets, Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, Danielle Collins, Jelena Ostapenko, former champion Elena Rybakina, and Jasmine Paolini to win the title.

Thanks to her triumph in London, Krejcikova qualified for the WTA Finals in the singles category for the second time in her career. In Riyadh, she bettered Jessica Pegula and eventual champion Coco Gauff in the group stage but lost to Zheng Qinwen in the semifinals. The results helped her end consecutive seasons in the top 10 of the WTA ranking.