"Really frustrating" - Aryna Sabalenka in pain and unsure of Wimbledon participation amid 'rare' shoulder injury

Aryna Sabalenka has raised major doubts about her participation at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, revealing that she is not 100% fit at the moment. The Belarusian is currently suffering from a shoulder injury, which she suffered during the WTA 500 event in Berlin last week.

Taking on Anna Kalinskaya in the quarterfinals, Sabalenka withdrew midway through the first set in Berlin. It was her first ever mid-match retirement ever, raising alarms among fans even then.

Regardless, the two-time Australian Open champion has traveled to Wimbledon for the Grass Major, where she is scheduled to take on America's Emina Bektas in her opener.

Speaking to reporters in her pre-tournament press conference, the former World No. 1 shed light on her injury situation, stating that she has been dealing with a lot of pain and that it has been very "frustrating" to handle.

"I'm not 100% physically fit. We're doing everything possible to make sure we play the first game here, but no, I'm not 100% ready. It's really frustrating. I've never been through a serious injury. It's already a lot I'm going through now. The last month has been very challenging, I've been struggling with a lot of pain. It's a mental battle too, you have to find the positive side," Aryna Sabalenka said.

The World No. 3 was not entirely without hope, however, with a day and a half still left for her to assess her status. What was most concerning about the 'rare' injury is that the Belarusian's biggest struggle comes during serving, which many would consider to be her biggest strength on the tennis court.

"I have something I need to figure out right now, if I don't I might make things worse. I don't want to jeopardise the rest of the season. As competitors we don't give up easily. We've tried a lot of different things in the last week and I still have a day and a half left. I'm hopeful," Aryna Sabalenka said.

"It's the teres major muscle in my shoulder. It's a very specific injury, very rare. I'm probably the second or third tennis player to injure that muscle. I can do everything, train, groundstrokes, but I struggle with my serve, it's very annoying. You don't feel like you're injured," she added.

"It took me about five or six days to recover" - Aryna Sabalenka on the stomach bug that affected her during French Open

Previews: The Championships - Wimbledon 2024

Before the Berlin WTA 500 tournament, Aryna Sabalenka was in action at the French Open, where she exited in the quarterfinals to Mirra Andreeva. The World No. 3 was hampered by a stomach bug at the time, which left her weakened during the loss to Andreeva.

At her Wimbledon pre-tournament press conference, Sabalenka opened up about that as well, admitting that it was a very tough ordeal that took her almost a week to fully recover from.

"I'm very happy to be back, it's an amazing place. What happened to me at Roland Garros was a very tough experience, I suffered a lot. Afterwards it took me about five or six days to recover. I took a lot of medicine to help my stomach. It was quite hard. It took me six days until I started training again," Aryna Sabalenka said.

Should Sabalenka play at Wimbledon and make it past the first round, she is likely to face Donna Vekic in the second round.