Canada's Milos Raonic hits a backhand return to Serbia's Novak Djokovic during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021.Raonic withdrew from the Cinch Championships on Tuesday shortly before his scheduled first-round match at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Hamish Blair
LONDON – Canada’s Milos Raonic withdrew from the Cinch Championships on Tuesday due to a shoulder injury.
Raonic, who recently returned to the ATP Tour after an injury-forced absence of nearly two years, pulled out before his scheduled first-round match against Australia’s Jordan Thompson.
Lucky loser Alexei Popyrin of Australia replaced Raonic in the draw.
The ATP Tour, via an email from Tennis Canada, confirmed Raonic’s withdrawal was due to a shoulder injury. No further details were released.
Raonic, a former world No. 3, has battled a variety of injury problems over his career. Prior to his current shoulder issue, he took time away to recover from heel and toe injuries.
The 32-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., won his return match at the Libema Open in the Netherlands last week before falling to Thompson in the second round.
Raonic’s status for Wimbledon in early July remained unclear. He’ll be able to access an unseeded main-draw position with his provisional ranking.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2023.
