Tsonga, Brady, Konta, Ostapenko withdraw on day one of US Open
The grind of the Tour showed its face as the four players pulled out before their first-round matches
The US Open was hit by a number of high-profile withdrawals on day one as Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Jennifer Brady, Johanna Konta and Jelena Ostapenko all pulled out.
Former Australian Open runner-up Tsonga gave no official reason for his withdrawal, granting Yuichi Sugita of Japan a match against Casper Ruud of Norway.
Brady, the runner-up at the Australian Open in February and a semi-finalist at the US Open last year, pulled out with a knee injury, gifting Stefanie Voegele a first-round meeting with Britain’s Emma Raducanu.
Konta, who has been bothered by a knee injury and the after-effects of Covid-19, which caused her to miss Wimbledon, cited a left thigh injury for her withdrawal. Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia will play Kristina Mladenovic instead.
And Ostapenko, the former French Open champion, pulled out for “medical reasons”, replaced by Greet Minnen, who will take on Nadia Podoroska of Argentina.