Amanda Anisimova withdraws with wrist injury

Amanda Anisimova’s clay season has basically not started, and that is the whole story here. On Thursday, May 7, she pulled out of the Italian Open in Rome before her second-round match with Jelena Ostapenko because of a left wrist injury. Elena-Gabriela Ruse took her place as a lucky loser. The bigger issue is timing — Rome was supposed to be her last real tune-up before Roland Garros. (wtatennis.com) ### What happened in Rome? Anisimova withdrew ahead of her opening match at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, where she had a bye into the second round as a seed. She was scheduled to play Ostapenko on Thursday, but the tournament slot went instead to Ruse after Anisimova’s late scratch. That makes this less about one lost match and more about another missed week on clay. (wtatennis.com) ### Why does the wrist matter so much? A wrist injury is nasty for a power hitter because it sits inside almost every aggressive swing — serve, return, backhand drive, emergency flick, all of it. Anisimova’s game depends on taking the ball early and hitting through the court, so even a manageable wrist problem can wreck timing and confidence. Tennis injuries are rarely just pain problems — they become decision-making problems too. Her body may be saying no, but her style gives her very little room to fake her way through it. This last sentence is an inference from how she plays and from the injury itself. (wtatennis.com) ### Has she played on clay at all? No — not in a tour match this season. WTA coverage notes that she has yet to play during the clay-court swing. She first withdrew from Charleston after saying she had picked up an injury in Miami, then pulled out of Madrid due to injury, and now Rome is gone too. So Paris is approaching with Anisimova still sitting on zero clay matches in 2026. (wtatennis.com) ### Wasn’t the first injury an ankle? Yes, and that is part of why this has gotten murky. Her Charleston withdrawal statement pointed to an injury from Miami and said her ankle was not fully back to 100%. By Madrid and Rome, the public explanation had shifted to wrist trouble. That could mean separate issues, or one recovery process that changed as she ramped back up. But the clean takeaway is simpler — she has not been healthy enough to enter and stay in these clay events. (wtatennis.com) ### Why is this a big deal before Paris? Because Rome is the last big dress rehearsal. Players use these weeks to build movement, endurance, and point patterns for clay, which is the surface that asks the most patience and the most physical repetition. Showing up at Roland Garros without a single clay match is a bit like trying to take a final exam after missing the whole review unit — talent still matters, but rhythm matters too. (wtatennis.com) ### How good has Anisimova been lately? Good enough that this absence really changes the women’s field. She is ranked No. 6 right now, reached the quarterfinals of the 2026 Australian Open, and came into this season off a huge 2025 that included Grand Slam finals at Wimbledon and the US Open plus two WTA 1000 titles. This is not a fringe player trying to get healthy. This is someone who had become a real major threat. (wtatennis.com) ### So what should we watch next? The only question now is whether she can get healthy in time for Roland Garros, not whether she can find form in Rome. If she enters Paris, she will do it with ranking protection from her earlier results but almost no recent clay reps. That is a rough combination — dangerous because of her ceiling, but vulnerable because match fitness on this surface cannot be improvised. (wtatennis.com) ### Bottom line? Anisimova’s withdrawal is not just one more tournament scratch. It leaves a top-10 player heading toward the French Open without a clay match this season and with fresh questions about whether her body will let her play her game at all. (wtatennis.com)