Rising Canadian tennis star Victoria Mboko has been forced to withdraw from the 2026 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The withdrawal is due to a right-elbow injury and comes just hours after the teenager reached a career milestone, cracking the WTA top 10 for the first time in the PIF WTA Rankings.
Mboko is the seventh player to pull out of the tournament.
This decision by the 19-year-old comes after her notable performance at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha, where her impressive run ended in the final with a loss to Karolina Muchova.
The strain from participating in consecutive tournaments proved to be too much.
“It is a lot of matches, and the tournaments are really close to each other, so it’s hard to try to manage that,” Mboko said after her semifinal win in Qatar when asked about the quick turnaround between Doha and Dubai, according to WTA Tennis. “Of course, you want to manage your tournament schedule the best you can.
“From a recovery standpoint and doing good physio, having good fitness and good routines help you kind of last longer in that sense. I’m trying to improve that in a way. We’re always focused on it, but I think it’s important to also prioritize everything else off court that’s not related to tennis.”
The teen is among several players who have withdrawn from the championships. The list of absentees also includes Maria Sakkari and Zheng Qinwen (both due to illness), Aryna Sabalenka (hip injury), and Iga Swiatek (scheduling conflicts).
Muchova, who won the Doha championship, also withdrew, citing schedule fatigue.
Lucky loser Petra Marcinko stepped in for Mboko to face Jaqueline Cristian in Monday’s first round.
Hailey Baptiste retired in her opening match, though six other alternates have since been activated.
Roland Garros champion Coco Gauff expressed concern that the rigorous tennis schedule is tough on players, and she disagrees with penalizing those who withdraw from tournaments by deducting ranking points, Tennis Now reported.
“I feel like for me, this part of the season I have always struggled I think just because of the transition and things like that,” Gauff said. “Do I think players should be docked points? Not really. We already have the mandatory. We get zeros on our ranking for everything. For this point in the schedule, I think it’s hard to play all the tournaments now that they’re two weeks. I think the ask of players are becoming more and more and more.
“I do understand the tournament side. They obviously want the players there. In the past I think top players have always come to Doha and Dubai. This draw has historically been a tough draw. I understand it’s unfortunate this year.
“I don’t think it’s fair for players to get docked points. I think, if anything, we should have an optional 1000 like the men do with Monte-Carlo. Yeah, I think that’s a little bit harsh in my opinion.”
