Injury to keep 2019 U.S. Open champion Andreescu out of tourney later this month

Canadian tennis player Bianca Andreescu has withdrawn from the U.S. Open and will be replaced by a qualifier/lucky loser, the tournament announced Saturday.

Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, pulled out of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati earlier this month after announcing she had a small stress fracture in her back.

The 23-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., said on Aug. 12 via X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that she experienced back pain during her first-round loss to Marta Kostyuk at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., on July 31.

She said the pain became worse in her first-round loss to Camila Giorgi at the National Bank Open in Montreal.

The U.S. Open, the final tennis major of the season, begins Aug. 28 in New York.

Andreescu has faced numerous injury problems since her breakout season in 2019, in which she won the Canadian Open along with the U.S. Open.

She missed a month earlier this year after sustaining two torn ligaments in her left ankle at the Miami Open in late March.

WATCH | Andreescu loses in National Bank Open 1st round: