Switzerland's world number four Stan Wawrinka has pulled out the tennis competition at the Rio Olympics because of injury, he said in a statement to the Swiss Tennis Federation.
Switzerland's world number four Stan Wawrinka has pulled out the tennis competition at the Rio Olympics because of injury, he said in a statement to the Swiss Tennis Federation on Tuesday. "I am very sad because after Beijing and London I would have liked to experience my third Olympic Games in Brazil; unfortunately that will now not be possible," he said.
Wawrinka became another big name to drop out from the tournament, a list that includes Federer, Milos Raonic, Tomas Berdych, Dominic Thiem, Richard Gasquet, John Isner, Feliciano Lopez and Nick Kyrgios.
The women's singles are stripped of Simona Halep, Victoria Azarenka, who is pregnant, Belinda Bencic and Karolina Pliskova. Maria Sharapova, silver medallist behind Serena Williams at the 2012 London Olympics, is serving a two-year doping ban.
The men's doubles suffered a body blow when defending champions Bob and Mike Bryan opted out, insisting "our family's health is now our top priority". World number one Djokovic said he has no fears about playing in Rio where he seeks a first Olympic gold medal to add to the career Grand Slam of the four majors he completed at the French Open in June.
"Of course there is always a possibility that you can get that virus, but I think maybe the fuss has been created with some kind of other intent. But I'm not going to get into that," said the 29-year-old Serb who warmed up for the Games by claiming a 30th Masters title in Toronto on Sunday.
Djokovic hinted at what many in sport feel -- that Zika is a convenient cover story for players who are concerned over the lack of ranking points at an event which also cuts into schedules geared specifically towards the US Open.
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