Los Angeles (AFP)

France's Fiona Ferro, who has just won the Palermo tournament, the first event on the WTA circuit after a five-month hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, has withdrawn from the US Open (August 31-September 13) announced Thursday the organizers.

No reason was given to explain Ferro's decision. A rib injury, having pushed her, according to L'Equipe, to give up participating in the tournament in Prague this week, could be the reason.

Unless the health risks linked to the coronavirus pandemic hitting the United States hard have forced her not to go there, like many other players including world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, the Ukrainian Elena Svitolina (N.5), Dutch Kiki Bertens (N.7) or even Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, winner of the US Open in 2004.

By winning the second tournament of her career in Palermo, after her title in Lausanne in 2019, Ferro, 23, jumped from 53rd to 44th place in the world, behind Kristina Mladenovic (42nd), the highest ranked French player.

Very comfortable on clay, she may also have wanted to continue her season on this surface, with the goal of Roland-Garros, supposed to take place from September 27 to October 11.

© 2020 AFP