Tokyo silver medalist Marketa Vondrousova announces withdrawal from Paris Olympics

Three years ago, Marketa Vondrousova left the Tokyo Olympics with a silver medal for her country, but the Czech left-hander won't have the opportunity to play for a podium berth in Paris. Vondrousova announced her withdrawal from the upcoming Olympic tennis event on social media Monday as a result of a hand injury.

The 25-year-old, last year's Wimbledon champion, was expected to play singles, as well as doubles with Karolina Muchova. Instead, Katerina Siniakova will take her place in singles, and Linda Noskova will play with Muchova. Newly-crowned Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova rounds out the Czech squad.

"I was hoping until the last moment that I could go at least in doubles," the 25-year-old wrote, but she will instead focus on "be[ing] OK for the US Open," which begins in five weeks.

Read more: Tennis guide: Who is playing the 2024 Paris Olympics at Roland Garros?

The tennis event, which will be played at Roland Garros, begins on Saturday. In her Olympic debut three years ago, the unseeded Vondrousova defeated, among others, then-No. 2 seed Naomi Osaka en route to the gold-medal match, where she lost to Belinda Bencic.

Vondrousova's withdrawal means that two of the three medalists from the most recent Olympics are not playing in Paris. New mom Bencic, who gave birth to her daughter Bella in April, is on maternity leave. Bronze medalist Elina Svitolina, Ukraine's top player, is still in the field.

The oft-injured Czech was plagued by a hip injury, suffered in a slip and fall on the grass-court surface at the pre-Wimbledon event in Berlin, ahead of her title defense at the All England Club. She lost in the first round to Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, making her just the second woman in the Open Era to lose in the first round of Wimbledon after winning the title the year prior.

As a result of that loss, Vondrousova slipped from No. 6 to No. 18 in the WTA rankings.