Marketa Vondrousova’s 2025 season has begun on a worrying note. The 2023 Wimbledon champion and former World No.6 had to take a long break in 2024 due to persistent injuries. She hasn’t been in action since Wimbledon in July 2024. And now it seems her comeback has been marred by another injury-driven appearance in the first month of 2025. The 2021 French Open finalist’s hopes have been shattered after an unexpected exit from the Adelaide International.

On Wednesday, the World No.39 arrived on the tennis court with a first-round match against Diana Shnaider at the Adelaide International. The Czech Republican showed a promising performance as she clinched the first set 6-4. However, the injury-prone WTA pro faced a major setback. She had to retire midway in the second set. The score was 1-1 at that time with Vondrousova being in a comfortable position. But she couldn’t do much more than express her emotions as she was seen crying while walking off the court.

For the unversed, Vondrousova’s career has been affected by injuries for quite some time now. Last year, before the third Major at the All England Club, she sustained a nasty injury. Playing against Anna Kalinskaya in Berlin in the R16 match of the Grass Court Championship, she slipped and fell after a split step on the first point of the ninth game. She injured her leg seriously and immediately asked for medical assistance.

She was then seen holding her right hip area while walking to her bench. After the treatment, she returned to the court only to leave the match eventually, with the score level in the first set at 5-5. That injury posed a huge challenge for her going into the Wimbledon. However, she made an appearance at the event. But she was eliminated soon after a 4-6, 2-6 defeat against Spain’s Jessica Bouzas. With that, Vondrousova also became the first female Wimbledon singles winner, after Steffi Graf in 1994, to bow out in the first round itself.

However, her injury woes returned to haunt her once again, ending her dream to represent Czechia at the Paris Olympics.

A look at Marketa Vondrousova’s injury-filled second half of the 2024 season

Following an early exit at the All England Club, Marketa Vondrousova soon announced her withdrawal from the Paris Olympics. The silver medalist of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo sustained a hand injury right before the event. Taking to her Instagram in late July, she wrote, “I am very sorry, but due to health reasons I will not be participating in this year’s Olympic Games in Paris💔 I hoped until the last moment that it could go at least in a double, but the hand problems do not let me go on the court.”

“I’m concentrating now to be okay at the US Open, I will keep my fingers crossed for all Czech representatives in France from a distance” she added while hoping for a comeback at the Flushing Meadows. But it wasn’t to be. Ahead of the US Open, a major shoulder injury forced her to have surgery. As a result, she had no other option but to pull her name.

“I’ve been struggling with shoulder pain for a few months now and there was no other option but to go for surgery🙂‍↕️” she wrote in a post on Instagram back in August. “everything went well and i’ll start rehab soon❤️‍🩹 see you back on the court happy and healthy” she concluded. Since then she’s been away from action for a period of more than four months.

With another possible yet unconfirmed injury halting her start to the 2025 season, it will be intriguing to see if she can recover in time. Do you think she will be able to return to the court soon? Let us know in the comments below.