Tennis’ typical problem, the late withdrawal

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Shortly after upsetting Venus Williams in the finals of the Stanford women’s tournament Sunday, France’s Marion Bartoli, who would have been the ninth-seeded player at the LA Open Women’s Championships which begin Monday at the Home Depot Center, withdrew.

She cited a calf injury which, obviously, didn’t hinder her against Venus. Bartoli might as well have said she’d done enough for now and she was tired and she just wants to hang out for a bit before getting into the rest of the hard court, hard-grind season leading to the U.S. Open.

But, she’ll go with the calf injury thing. Bartoli isn’t a huge drawing card among U.S. tennis fans but she would have brought some buzz with her from Stanford to Carson and that wouldn’t have been a bad thing for the sport. It just wasn’t what Bartoli wanted to do for herself.

‘Due to my right calf strain, which has been bothering me all week in Stanford,’ Bartoli said in a statement, ‘I am unable to play in Los Angeles. I will take some time off and recover from this injury. I’m sorry I won’t be able to play in front of my fans in Los Angeles but I hope to be back soon.’

Well, OK then.

-- Diane Pucin