Victoria Azarenka out of Wimbledon with knee injury
The Belarussian, seeded sixth, was among the favourites to life the trophy at the third Grand Slam of the season.
Victoria Azarenka has pulled out of the draw at Wimbledon after suffering a recurrence of a knee injury that forced her to retire during her first round match at the French Open, organisers announced on Thursday.
"Victoria Azarenka has withdrawn from Wimbledon due to a knee injury. Get well soon, @vika7" Wimbledon posted on twitter.
The two-time Australian Open champion and former world number one had to retire from her opening round tie against Karin Knapp at Roland Garros with the problem.
The 26-year-old from Belarus, Australian Open champion in 2012 and 2013, was seeded sixth at the All England Club with the third Grand Slam of the year starting on Monday.
It is the second time that Azarenka, a two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist, has been forced to withdraw from the grass-court tournament.
She suffered a right knee injury in Wimbledon in 2013 after an awkward fall in the first round and withdrew before the second round of the tournament in which she was seeded second.
The injury has also cast a shadow over her Olympic bid with the Rio Games just six weeks away in August. Azarenka won bronze in the women's singles and gold in the mixed doubles at the London 2012 Olympics.
Her withdrawal means five-times champion Venus Williams will move up into the top eight seeds.