Canadian Tennis champ Bianca Andreescu, who is seeded at the fifth position in the world ranking, announced that she would not be appearing for the Tokyo Olympics, which are scheduled to start later this month while citing her concerns related to the threat of COVID-19. The 21-year-old player, who won the US Open Championship in 2019, announced her decision in a social media post.
She wrote in a post on Instagram, “ I would like to inform you that I have made the very difficult decision to not play in the Tokyo Olympics later this month.”
It added, “I have been dreaming of representing Canada at the Olympics since I was a little girl, but with all the challenges we are facing as it relates to the pandemic, I know that deep in my heart, this is the right decision to make for myself.”
Multiple prominent players have pulled out of participating in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics for similar reasons.
These include Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Dominic Thiem while the participation of Novak Djokovic, who is seeded at the first position currently, still remains unclear.
Djokovic, who was crowned the Wimbledon champion just days ago, said that there was a “50/50” chance of him appearing for the highly awaited games.
Last week, Japanese authorities announced that any of the Olympic games will not have any spectators due to the ongoing threat of COVID-19 and a substantial number of cases still being active in Japan due to a patchy COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
The decision means the Games will be the first to take place largely behind closed doors — a blow to athletes who will now compete in front of largely empty stadiums, according to reports from AFP.
Philippine rower Cris Nievarez, who will be competing in the men’s single sculls, said he would miss the thrill of having family and fans cheer him on, AFP reported.
