Former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova has pulled out of the Australian Open just an hour before she was due to take to the court for her first-round match. The No.32 seed was set to face Hailey Baptiste on Court 13 at 2pm in Melbourne (3am UK) but tournament organisers announced her decision to withdraw at 1pm local time.

The Czech star, whose career has been marred by injuries, has been replaced by lucky loser Taylor Townsend. In a statement, Vondrousova explained that she faced a setback with her shoulder.

“I’m really sorry that I had to withdraw from the Australian Open due to ongoing shoulder issues. After everything I’ve been dealing with, I need to prioritise my health, even though this decision wasn’t easy. Thank you all for your understanding and support,” she said.

Vondrousova also missed last year’s Australian Open after picking up an injury in Adelaide a week earlier. The 2025 Adelaide International was her first tournament in more than six months after ending the 2024 season to undergo shoulder surgery.

She took a break in February and returned to action a few months later at the French Open, and her comeback quickly gained momentum. Vondrousova won the WTA 500 in Berlin and then reached the US Open quarter-finals.

But she faced another setback at the beginning of this season. After losing in the first round of the Brisbane International, Vondrousova withdrew from the WTA event in Adelaide, citing shoulder pain. And the same issue has now sidelined her in Melbourne.

The former world No. 6 has struggled physically throughout her career. Vondrousova finished runner-up at the 2019 French Open when she was still a teenager – but picked up a wrist injury at Wimbledon a few weeks later and ended her season to have surgery.

She returned to competition in 2021 and won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games, but the wrist problems came back to haunt her, and in 2022 she had another operation. Vondrousova again bounced back from her extended injury layoff, becoming the first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon in 2023.

But her injury woes have persisted, and this time it’s the shoulder which has forced Vondrousova out of the Australian Open for the second year running. 

Arne Slot insists Liverpool will “wait for the right moment” to add to their squad as the head coach refused to rule out strengthening before the January transfer window closes.

Asked about the prospect of a defensive arrival this month, the Reds boss said: “Are we less stretched in attack, then? I am a bit surprised people are talking like this.

“You think we have more options in the front? I am surprised people are so focused on our last line.

“We don’t have an injury in our midfield so that is the line we don’t have them but I think I have said it in the press conference but I can say it one more time.

“Everyone is aligned, everyone knows what the challenges are, and we all agree but that is not to say there is no possibility for us to act because as you know this club has always waited for the right moment and never from a position of panic.

“We always do the right things at the right moment. The one who was here before me had some issues at the back as well in a certain season.

“If the right player arrives for multiple reasons no matter what the position in our team – it could be last line, midfield or attack – then we will act.

“If not we do it with the players we have because Wata (Wataru Endo) has come back now as well. At this moment there are only three players who are out with long-term injuries (Leoni, Bradley and Alexander Isak).

“[We won’t move] unless it’s an opportunity or a chance in the market, but I think we have shown in this window or in the summer how we act. That has been meticulous and a very detailed process that is not done in two weeks but over a long period of time but then we act at the right moment.

“But if there is an opportunity in the market or if things get even worse, we can have a different situation.”