Lucie Safarova withdraws from Australian Open

Lucie Safarova has decided to give Australian Open a skip citing health reasons. The World No. 9 has been suffering from a bacterial infection which saw the athlete being hospitalised last September.

Safarova has already skipped the Hopman Cup, currently underway in Australia. The tennis star from Czech Republic appeared in French Open last year before being diagnosed with the infection.

"The treatment of my bacterial infection has become complicated in recent days," Safarova said, according to ABC.

Safarova, who won the doubles title with Bethanie Mattek-Sands last year stated about her lack of training time being the major reason for not flying to tournaments in Australia.

"That's why I have decided to pull out, not to burden the organisers by travelling, and focus on treatment and gradual convalescence," Safarova added.

The 28-year-old Czech stated that her joints are still hurting and she is unable to follow the instructions of her coach in training. The biochemical checks have also not yielded hundred percent results.

After her infection last year, Safarova returned to tennis in the WTA Finals in Singapore, where she crashed out of the group stage.

Safarova also featured for the Czech Republic national team in mid-November which won the Fed Cup. However, the world No. 9 did not play in the tournament due to an inflamed tendon in her left wrist.

Safarova is hopeful of her return in the upcoming Fed Cup tie against Romania which takes place on February 6-7.

"If not, I will focus on the US tournaments on the WTA circuit (scheduled for March)," Safarova mentioned.

Australian Open starts in Melbourne on January 18, but it’s not only Safarova who will be missing the grand slam. Other big names are also in danger of missing out of the tournament due to fitness issues.

World No. 1 Serena Williams, who is also the defending champion is nursing a knee injury and has not played since last September.

Simona Halep (World No. 2) and Maria Sharapova (World No. 4) are also recovering from achilles tendon and forearm injuries respectively.

It’s not only the leading female athletes who are feared to lose out from the tournament.

Four-time champion Roger Federer is down with a bug while World No. 9 Richard Gasquet is recovering from a back injury as well.