RIO DE JANEIRO — Two-time major champion Stan Wawrinka pulled out of the Olympics on Tuesday because of injury, leaving the Rio Games without half of the men ranked in the ATP’s top 10.
A statement issued by Wawrinka’s management company said he “felt increasing pain” during the Rogers Cup in Toronto last week and was told by his doctor after an MRI exam to “reduce his physical activity for an undetermined period.”
The statement does not say where Wawrinka is injured. He lost in the semifinals in Toronto.
Wawrinka, who is No. 4 this week, joins his Swiss teammate Roger Federer, who is No. 3, along with No. 7 Milos Raonic of Canada, No. 8 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic and No. 10 Dominic Thiem of Austria in withdrawing from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics for a variety of reasons.
No. 5 Rafael Nadal has been sidelined with an injured left wrist since the French Open and has been testing his fitness in Brazil.
The draw for tennis in Rio is Thursday. Play begins Saturday.
OPENING CEREMONY: One part of Sunday’s dress rehearsal struck some viewers as cringe-worthy: the moment when supermodel Gisele Bundchen, who is married to Patriots QB Tom Brady, got seemingly robbed by a black kid from the slums.
“It’s totally unacceptable,” said Fernando Alvares Salis, head of the communications department at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, who was invited to see the rehearsal. “It’s got to be dropped.”
And it looks as if it will be.
Meirelles said viewers and the media had misinterpreted this part of the show. He described the controversy as a “tremendous misunderstanding.”
What actually happened, he said, was that they tested out a scene in which a food vendor on the beach rushes up to take a selfie with Gisele. Security guards don’t like it and give chase, but Gisele intervenes to protect him.
“It was a gag that was not funny so we cut it,” he said. “There was nothing that looked like a robbery in the scene except two security guards chasing after a vendor. They are three professional clowns.”
IOC: Declaring that the global drug-testing system is damaged, Olympic leaders and anti-doping officials vowed to fix the problems and prevent the type of scandal that has embroiled Russian athletes in the lead-up to the games in Rio de Janeiro.
The IOC and the World Anti-Doping Agency clashed again over the allegations of state-sponsored doping in Russia that have rattled the Olympic movement and created chaos.
But both sides agreed on one thing – the need to repair the international anti-doping system and restore trust and credibility in the fight against drugs.
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