Bubble breach in the 2022 French Open as defending champion Barbora Krejcikova becomes the second player to test positive for Covid
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Barbora Krejcikova
World No. 2 in singles and World No. 3 in doubles along with compatriot Katerina Siniakova, Barbora Krejcikova was the defending champion at the 2022 French Open in both the singles and doubles disciplines. While she had won Grand Slams earlier in doubles and mixed doubles, the singles title kept evading her till she won the Roland Garros last year to clinch her maiden singles major.
However, due to the injuries at the beginning of the Golden Swing, the Czech was forced to come to Paris without any claycourt match practice. The rustiness was clearly visible during her first-round encounter in the singles when she lost local girl Diane Perry in 3-sets. Perry won the match 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 to send the defending champion packing in one of the biggest first-round upsets.
Post the defeats in singles, all eyes were on Krejcikova and Siniakova for their doubles title defence but it did not materialise as Krejcikova had to withdraw prior to their round 1 match against Anna Kalinskaya and Dalma Galfi. The defending champ then took to her Instagram stories to give a full update about her withdrawal which has surely become a killjoy.
“Hi everyone, I have to make a very hard announcement. I was looking forward to competing in doubles very much unfortunately my time here at Roland Garros cut short. Last night I started to feel bad and this morning I woke up with fever. I decided to get tested for Covid and it came back positive. I am extremely sad that I won’t be able to defend my title in doubles here, but on the positive side, I am glad I am injury and can’t wait to get healthy and back to training. Thank you everyone for your support. Goodnight from Paris and see you all soon,” wrote Krejcikova.
Marie Bouzkova had also tested positive prior to Barbora Krejcikova
Krejcikova is the second victim of Covid-19 in the French Open as World no. 69 in singles and World No. 26 in doubles, Marie Bouzkova had also tested positive a few hours earlier. Bouzkova, a compatriot of Krejcikova, had won her first-round singles match and was supposed to play Elise Mertens in the second round but had to hand a walkover prior to the match. In the doubles partnering Aliona Bolsova, the pair was supposed to take on Belinda Bencic and Anhelina Kalinina but due to Marie’s test results, they also handed a walkover.
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Sarthak Shitole
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