French Open star pulls out of tournament 24 hours after draw as statement issued

Belinda Bencic has been forced to pull out of the only two days before the main draw gets underway. The Swiss, who has been in good form since the end of last year, had been drawn to play in an intriguing first-round match-up.

But a flare-up of the arm injury she picked up at the Italian Open earlier this month has ruled her out of the competition. Bencic wrote on her : "Hi everyone - a quick update here from me as I will, unfortunately, miss Roland-Garros this year. Just two days ago during a morning practice, I re-aggravated the arm injury that caused me to retire in Rome.

"The very good news is that with two weeks of complete rest, I will be able to recover and heal fully, so I will do everything I can in that period to speed up the process and therefore see you soon on the grass!"

Bencic retired after one set against Maria Sakkari at the Italian Open and has not been in competitive action since. Her best result on the clay this season came at the Madrid Open in April, where she beat two seeded competitors en route to defeat against Coco Gauff in the round of 16.

Rybakina, who won Wimbledon in 2022 and reached the Australian Open final the following year, is now slated to play a lucky loser in her first-round match in Paris.

Bencic took time out of the game to give birth to her daughter, Bella, last April. Just over a year later, having returned to action in October, the 28-year-old has put together an impressive run of tournament results.

The world No. 39 made it to the quarter-finals at Indian Wells in March, won the Abu Dhabi Open in February with a victory over top seed Rybakina in the semi-finals, and made the fourth round of the Australian Open in February thanks to wins over Jelena Ostapenko and Naomi Osaka.

Qualifying is already underway at the French Open ahead of the main draws starting on Sunday. Iga Swiatek, who has won the last three consecutive titles at Roland-Garros and four of the last five, begins her campaign against Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia.

Top seed Aryna Sabalenka takes on Kamilla Rakhimova, second seed Gauff will face Australia's Olivia Gadecki, and popular British hopeful Emma Raducanu has been drawn against Chinese competitor Wang Xinyu.