Serena Williams delighted the tennis fans after announcing her participation in Wimbledon following a break that lasted 1 year. However, the organization lost the presence of Naomi Osaka and Eugenie Bouchard, who are officially out.
The reason for the absence of Naomi and Genie is that the WTA will not award any point to the players who will compete in SW19. The WTA was not impressed by the unilateral decision of the organization to ban Russian and Belarusian tennis players from the event following the insane invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Genie Bouchard decided not to play because she can use her protected rankings only twice in the majors. Therefore, as per her own words, it does not make sense to use the ranking protection in a major that does not award any point.
Naomi Osaka has never been very keen on competing in Europe. As soon as she learned that there would be no points awarded in Wimbledon, she immediately commented that the tournament would be only a high-level exhibition in her eyes. Therefore, she said she was doubtful about participating in the British major. Eventually, her defection was not that surprising.
Naomi Osaka in 2022
Currently the world no.43, Naomi played her last match on the 23rd of May when she capitulated to world no.25 Amanda Anisimova 7-5 6-4
in the 1st round of the French Open (draw).This season the Japanese achieved a composed 12-5 record. Naomi Osaka’s most significant result of the year was getting to the final in Miami.
Eugenie Bouchard in 2022
Currently the world no.331, Eugenie played her last match on the 16th of March 2021 when she was overcome by world no.95 Lin Zhu 7-5 7-6(3) in the 1st round in Monterrey (draw).
This season the Canadian has managed to achieve a compiled 0-0 record.
Naomi Osaka and Eugenie Bouchard have never clashed against each other.
Serena Williams in 2022
At the moment ranked no.276, the American played her last match on the 29th of June 2021 when she had to retire when playing against world no.38 Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the 1st round and the scoreline was 3-3 .
Until now, during this year Serena Williams has a 0-0 match record.