LONDON -- The Wimbledon defection list grew Monday as Alex Corretja, Monica Seles and Anna Kournikova all pulled out citing injuries.
Corretja's departure because of a leg injury helped Wimbledon complete its controversial seeding situation, since he had threatened to boycott the
Grand Slam tournament if he wasn't seeded high enough.
A recurring foot injury is what will keep Seles from winning the one Grand Slam event she has yet to win. The injury also kept her from playing in the French Open.
Seles has won the Australian Open four times, the French Open
three times and the U.S. Open twice. She lost to Steffi
Graf in the 1992 Wimbledon final but hasn't been past the
quarterfinal since.
Corretja, the French Open runner-up, is a Spanish clay-court
specialist. He is among those players who contend Wimbledon is
biased toward grass-court stars.
Kournikova, who also announced Monday she will not play in the event that starts next Monday, has been suffering from a stress fracture in her
left foot since the end of February.
The 20-year-old Russian missed the entire clay-court season and
pulled out of this week's grass court tournament at Eastbourne.
Kournikova, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 1997 at age
16, has not played since losing to Amelie Mauresmo in the
quarterfinals of the Gaz de France in February.
French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten, the top clay-court player
and No. 1 in the rankings, already pulled out of Wimbledon with a
groin injury.
Also missing from Wimbledon is former French Open champion Mary
Pierce, with a back injury, and Mark Philippoussis, who won't be able to improve on his three straight quarterfinal appearances because of knee injury.
Jennifer Capriati, winner of the Australian Open and French
Open, withdrew from the Den Bosch event that started Monday because
of fatigue. However, she is expected to play Wimbledon. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories |
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