Sport

Ons Jabeur’s season ends early due to shoulder injury

Yolande Du Preez|Published

Tunisia's Ons Jabeur will not be competing for the rest of the season due to injury. Picture: OSCAR DEL POZO, AFP

Ons Jabeur will miss the rest of the 2024 WTA season with a shoulder injury, the Tunisian announced on Monday.

The three-time Grand Slam runner-up has struggled for form and fitness this year, slipping to 22nd in the world rankings. Jabeur missed the recent US Open due to the injury and has not played since a heavy defeat by Naomi Osaka in Toronto in early August.

“This year has been extremely hard for me and as athletes we know that recovery is part of the journey,” she said on social media.

“Due to my ongoing shoulder injury, my medical team and I’ve made the difficult decision to step off the tennis circuit for the rest of the season.”

The 30-year-old said she would be back on court for the start of the 2025 campaign in Australia.

Meanwhile, Jannik Sinner has hired Novak Djokovic’s former fitness coach Marco Panichi in the wake of the world No.1 being cleared despite testing positive twice for a banned substance.

“Welcome to the team,” Sinner wrote on social media on Monday, alongside a photo of himself with fellow Italian Panichi and newly-recruited physiotherapist Ulises Badio.

The pair replace Umberto Ferrara and Giacomo Naldi, who Sinner parted ways with before his US Open triumph, after the two positive doping tests in March.

Sinner had explained that the slight traces of clostebol had originated from a spray used by a member of his staff to treat a cut finger. The International Tennis Integrity Agency accepted the explanation leading to a furious backlash from players including Australian Nick Kyrgios.

Panichi notably worked with compatriot Fabio Fognini, German Angelique Kerber and China’s Li Na, before being part of Djokovic’s team from 2019 until earlier this year.

AFP

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