The grass court season is well and truly underway, as players look to prepare for the third Grand Slam tournament of the year at Wimbledon.
Roland Garros has just concluded, with Carlos Alcaraz beating Jannik Sinner in a five set classic to win his fifth major title.
Alcaraz is also the defending Wimbledon champion, and will look to win a third consecutive title at SW19 in 2025.
Alcaraz, Sinner and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic are the main Wimbledon contenders, but one in-form ATP player has seen his chances of competing at the grass court major look in doubt after suffering a horrible knee injury.
Otto Virtanen suffers horrible knee injury before Wimbledon qualifying
Finnish number one Otto Virtanen, who has a career-high ranking of world number 91, had found some form in the early weeks of the grass court season.
The 23-year-old won his seventh ATP challenger title on the grass of Birmingham last week, and had also beaten world number 62 Tomas Martin Etcheverry in straight sets at the Libema Open.
However, it appears that win against Etcheverry took its toll on Virtanen, who has now revealed that he has suffered a grade two MCL (medial collateral ligament) knee injury.
As a result, Virtanen has subsequently pulled out of his next match, giving Nuno Borges a walkover to the Libema Open quarter-finals.
A grade two tear to an MCL is said to typically take four to six weeks to heal from, meaning that Virtanen is likely to be unable to compete in Wimbledon qualifying that begins in under two weeks.
This will be a huge blow to the world number 101, who is a former junior Wimbledon doubles champion and came through qualifying in singles last year.
Virtanen went on to win his first main draw Grand Slam match against Max Purcell at Wimbledon in 2024, before he narrowly lost to Tommy Paul in a five set second round match.
Who has withdrawn from Wimbledon so far?
There have only been three official withdrawals from the men’s singles draw at Wimbledon so far, including Juncheng Shang and Virtanen’s compatriot Emil Ruusuvuori.
Perhaps the most notable withdrawal so far has been former finalist Nick Kyrgios, who confirmed he will miss Wimbledon this year due to ongoing injury struggles.
There are also concerns about a top 20 ATP player, with Arthur Fils withdrawing from an upcoming tournament due to a stress fracture in his back that forced him to withdraw from his third round match at Roland Garros.
While there have been no official withdrawals in the women’s singles draw, there is concern for the defending Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova, who has only played four matches so far in 2025.
Wimbledon gets underway this year on Monday, June 30, with the qualifying draw taking place the week prior.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
