Maria Sakkari has been forced to retire after the first set of her opening match at the US Open against China’s Wang Yafan.
The No.9 seed lost the opening set 6-2 before having work done on her neck/shoulder area, shortly after the match was called as Sakkari retired due to the apparent injury.
This is now the fifth grand slam where the 29-year-old has lost in the opening round since making the semi-finals in the US Open and French Open in 2021.
Sakkari reached the fourth round of the 2022 Australian Open but since then she has not advanced past the third round in 11 straight grand slam tournaments.
The Greek recently competed at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris where she was knocked out in the Round of 16 by Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk.
She had not made a return to the tennis courts before the US Open, withdrawing from the Canadian Open as well as the Cincinnati Masters due to a shoulder injury.
