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BERLIN (AP) — Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka ruled herself out of the Olympic Games in Paris on Monday.
The world No 3 from Belarus said she preferred to take a rest and get ready for the hard-court season.
“I prefer to have a little rest to make sure physically and health-wise I’m ready for the hard courts,” Sabalenka said in Berlin. “I’ll have a good preparation before going to the hard-court season. I feel that this is safer and better for my body.”
Players will have to return back to clay at Roland Garros for the Olympic tournament following Wimbledon, then move to hard courts in North America.
“It’s too much for the scheduling and I made the decision to take care of my health,” she said.
She is in Berlin at a warmup event for Wimbledon.
It’s her first tournament since her quarterfinals loss to Mirra Andreeva in the French Open, where she had a stomach problem.