Pliskova out of Australian Open due to broken hand

PRAGUE: Wimbledon finalist Karolina Pliskova will miss the Australian Open in January after breaking her forearm in training, her husband and manager Michal Hrdlicka said on Thursday.

“Karolina broke her radius… in a fitness room at a training camp in Spain,” Hrdlicka said in a statement, adding that treatment would take about four weeks.

“Unfortunately I will be out for a while and will not compete at my favourite tournaments in Australia,” the 29-year-old Pliskova said on Facebook.

“Some days are worse than others… but time and belief can heal everything,” added the world number four, posing for a photo with her right forearm in a bandage.

Pliskova has yet to win a Grand Slam tournament, having reached the 2016 US Open final and then lost in three sets to Ashleigh Barty in the Wimbledon final this year.

Pliskova — whose best performance at the Australian Open was reaching the 2019 semi-finals — has not missed a Grand Slam tournament since the 2012 US Open.

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