Karolina Pliskova ends 2023 season early due to left wrist injury

Karolina Pliskova won't compete again in 2023. The Czech announced on social media Saturday that she made the "tough decision" to end her season prematurely due to a left wrist injury.

"It's never easy to step away from the game," Pliskova wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, "but I believe it's the right decision to focus on my health and come back stronger next season.

"Thank you for all your support and well wishes. I'll be working hard to get back in top form, and I can't wait to see you all on the court next year!"

Pliskova last played two weeks ago at the WTA 1000 event in Guadalajara, Mexico, where she failed to convert match point in a 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-6(4) second-round loss to American Hailey Baptiste.

The result was a microcosm of the former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam finalist's season, as she struggled for consistency in 2023. For the year, Pliskova posted a 22-19 record, and at No. 36, is assured of her lowest year-end ranking in a decade. (She ended 2013 ranked No. 67 as a 21-year-old who had yet to reach the third round of a Grand Slam.)

After six straight seasons in the year-end Top 10, Pliskova ended last year ranked No. 32.

While a quarterfinal result at the year's first Grand Slam tournament in Australia (her fourth at the Australian Open) was an early-season highlight, Pliskova reached just two more quarterfinals for all of 2023: in Dubai and Stuttgart. The latter, in April, marked the last time she won more than one match at a tournament. At the other three majors, she won one match combined.

Pliskova's 2023 also featured a change in coaches, as she and Sascha Bajin parted company for a second time in July. The duo, who worked together beginning in 2021 before breaking up last July, reunited ahead of 2023.