By Amelia | Tennis Correspondent, Sportspherearena
The WTA’s Asian swing is underway, and a striking number of the tour’s names are missing from it. A teenager’s MCL tear that never healed in time for the US Open. A world No. 1 managing Achilles pain with painkillers on her way to a Grand Slam title. A wrist that gave out again in Singapore this week. This fall has been an attrition test as much as a title race — here is who is actually out, and why.
Tracker current as of September 22, 2026.
🟢 At least six WTA Tour regulars — Victoria Mboko, Hailey Baptiste, Varvara Gracheva, Ajla Tomljanovic, McCartney Kessler and Sonay Kartal — have missed the US Open or ended their 2026 seasons early because of injury.
Out Since Before the US Open — Still Sidelined
Victoria Mboko (CAN) — MCL tear, left knee Mboko injured the MCL in her left knee when she slipped at the baseline during her second-round match against Karolina Pliskova at the HSBC Championships (Queen’s Club) in June. The injury ended her grass-court season immediately, cost her the chance to defend her National Bank Open title in Toronto, and kept her off the US Open entry list entirely — the clearest sign yet that her recovery is taking longer than first hoped.
Hailey Baptiste (USA) — ACL and meniscus tear Baptiste tore her ACL and meniscus during the second round of the French Open, a injury serious enough to end her season outright and keep her off the US Open entry list, cutting short a year that had taken her to a career-high ranking.
Varvara Gracheva (FRA) — Torn ACL Gracheva tore her ACL in practice at the end of March, ruling her out of the entire clay swing and beyond; she remained a confirmed absentee from the US Open.
Sonay Kartal (GBR) — Stress fractures, lower back Kartal retired mid-match against Elena Rybakina at Indian Wells in March with a lower back issue; scans later revealed stress fractures. The injury wiped out her clay and grass seasons, including Wimbledon, and dropped her out of the top 100. As of her most recent update she had still not fully recovered.
Season-Ending Withdrawals
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) — Cumulative minor injuries Tomljanovic announced on Instagram in late July that she was ending her 2026 season early after “a series of minor injuries,” pulling out of the US Open. Her final match of the year came at Wimbledon, a first-round loss to Mariam Bolkvadze.
McCartney Kessler (USA) — Lower back injury Kessler’s chronic back problem — which first surfaced at last year’s Miami Open — resurfaced badly during a Billie Jean King Cup qualifying tie against Belgium, forcing a mid-match retirement against Elise Mertens. After a first-round US Open exit to Ekaterina Alexandrova, Kessler announced on Instagram that she and her team had decided to shut her season down to let her body heal, dropping her from outside the top 30 toward world No. 119 once her fall ranking points expire.
Current Withdrawals — Asian Swing
Amanda Anisimova (USA) — Left wrist injury Anisimova withdrew from this week’s Singapore Tennis Open with a left wrist injury, the latest in a season of recurring physical setbacks that has also included a calf issue that forced her out of the Wuhan and Ningbo Opens. [RESEARCH GAP: return timeline not yet confirmed by the player or the WTA.]
Janice Tjen (INA) — Right wrist injury Tjen withdrew from the Singapore Tennis Open singles draw with a right wrist injury, per the tournament’s official seeded-withdrawals sheet.
Playing Through It
Elena Rybakina (KAZ) — Achilles tendon The new WTA world No. 1 played through Achilles tendon soreness that flared during the US Open, reportedly needing painkillers to get through matches — and won the title anyway. Kazakhstan’s tennis federation has since confirmed she is undergoing further medical tests and will sit out the country’s Billie Jean King Cup tie against Spain as a precaution.
🟢 Elena Rybakina won the US Open while managing Achilles pain with painkillers, then pulled out of Billie Jean King Cup duty days later as a precaution.
FAQ
Is Elena Rybakina injured right now? Rybakina has been managing Achilles tendon soreness that troubled her through the US Open; she is sitting out her Billie Jean King Cup tie against Spain while undergoing further medical tests.
Why is Victoria Mboko not playing at the US Open? Mboko tore the MCL in her left knee at Queen’s Club in June 2026 and was not ready in time, missing Wimbledon, the National Bank Open and the US Open.
Has McCartney Kessler retired? No — Kessler has shut down her 2026 season early to treat a recurring lower back injury and has said she intends to return in 2027.
Who withdrew from the Singapore Tennis Open with injury? Amanda Anisimova (left wrist) and Janice Tjen (right wrist) both withdrew from the September 2026 Singapore Tennis Open singles draw due to injury.
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