World number 3 Sabalenka announces she will not participate in the Paris Olympics

BERLIN — World number 3 Aryna Sabalenka will not participate in the next Olympic Games in Paris. The reigning Australian Open champion told reporters at the Ecotrans Ladies Open that she made the decision in order to take care of herself and prepare for the hard-court summer.

“Especially with all the difficulties I have faced in recent months, I feel that I have to take care of my health,” Sabalenka said during the media day on Monday. “It’s too much for the schedule and I’ve made the decision to take care of my health.”

For the first time since Barcelona in 1992, the Olympic tennis event will take place on clay. This will require players to move from the grass of Wimbledon to the clay of Roland Garros for the Olympics and back to North American hard courts. The hard-court summer includes back-to-back WTA 1000 events in Toronto and Cincinnati, followed by the final Grand Slam of the year at the US Open, where Sabalenka was runner-up last year.

“I prefer to rest a little to make sure that I am ready physically and healthy for the hard courts,” said Sabalenka, “and I will have a good preparation before going into the hard court season. I think that is safer and better for my body.

Sabalenka is the No. 2 seed this week in Berlin. She is playing her first tournament since Roland Garros, where she suffered from a stomach illness during her quarterfinal defeat against Mirra Andreeva.

“It was the worst experience I have had in my life on the field,” Sabalenka said. “I’ve played sick, I’ve played with injuries, but when you have a stomach ache and you don’t have the energy to play and you’re in the quarter-final of a Grand Slam, it was a truly terrible experience. But it is what it is.

“I think my body was just asking for some rest. I managed to find a few days to relax and recover after a difficult few months.”

Sabalenka has already started her grass court preparation with a week of training on the grass courts of Aorangi Park in Wimbledon. The initial adjustment has been severe, but Sabalenka is confident she can quickly regain her grass-court game. She has yet to win a title on grass, but she is already a two-time semi-finalist at Wimbledon.

“We just don’t play enough time on grass, so I don’t have enough time to win a title,” Sabalenka said. “It’s not like I feel bad, I’ve had good results on grass and I feel really good. I think grass suits my game very well.

“So it’s not about the surface, it’s about the month of tournaments, how many opportunities I have on a grass court.”

Sabalenka will open her Berlin campaign against No. 14 Daria Kasatkina in the second round. Kasatkina advanced with a 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3 victory over Marta Kostyuk on Monday.