Injured Simona Halep pulls out of Tokyo Games

Sunday, March 10, 2019 - Simona Halep plays Kateryna Kozlova in the 3rd round of the BNP Paribas Open in Stadium 1 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California. (Michael Cummo, BNP Paribas Open)

World number three Simona Halep has become the latest big-name tennis player to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics after the Romanian said she would not recover from a calf injury in time.

Halep, who also pulled out of Wimbledon last week, joins 23-times Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, men's world No.3 Rafa Nadal and last year's U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem in skipping the Tokyo Games, which begin on July 23.

"Nothing brings me more pride than representing Romania, but sadly the recovery from my calf injury requires more time and I have made the decision to withdraw from the Olympic Games this summer," Halep tweeted on Monday.

In May, the 29-year-old exited a claycourt event in Rome after picking up the injury during her second-round match against Angelique Kerber and was subsequently forced to miss the French Open.

"After the disappointment of missing the French Open and Wimbledon having to skip the Olympics is incredibly tough to digest, but I am determined to come back stronger," she added.

Halep suffered an opening-round loss at the London Olympics in 2012 and skipped the 2016 Rio Games due to concerns over the Zika virus.