PARIS TENNIS UPDATE • 2018 FRENCH OPEN • CHUNG JOINS ROGER FEDERER & MILOS RAONIC ON ABSENTEE LIST

Written by: Staff on 23rd May 2018

PARIS TENNIS UPDATE • 2018 FRENCH OPEN • CHUNG JOINS ROGER FEDERER & MILOS RAONIC ON ABSENTEE LIST

epa06635012 Hyeon Chung of South Korea reacts against John Isner of the US during a men's quarterfinal round match at the Miami Open tennis tournament on Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida, USA, 28 March 2018. EPA-EFE/ERIK S. LESSER |

Hyeon Chung of South Korea reacts against John Isner of the US during a men’s quarterfinal round match at the Miami Open tennis tournament on Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida, USA, 28 March 2018. EPA-EFE/ERIK S. LESSER

By Ricky Dimon

Hyeon Chung pulled out of this week’s 250-point tournament in Lyon, but another France-based event–and a much bigger one–will also be missing his presence. Due to a lingering right-ankle injury, Chung also withdrew from the upcoming French Open.

“Unfortunately I had to withdraw from Lyon yesterday and now Roland Garros,” the 22-year-old Korean posted on Twitter. “I have been struggling with an ankle injury during the entire clay season. An MRI scan has revealed that I have build up of fluid in the ankle joint which might require a small procedure and then an extended period of rest.”

It is especially bad timing for Chung, who is in realistic Nitto ATP Finals contention thanks to a consistently stellar start to the season. Up to No. 20 in the world, he made a run to the Australian Open semifinals and reached consecutive quarterfinals in Delray Beach, Acapulco, Indian Wells, and Miami before beginning the clay-court swing with a semifinal performance in Munich. Chung, though, has never quite been 100 percent since Indian Wells and Miami. He did not play in either Monte-Carlo or Rome and dropped his Madrid opener in listless 6-2, 6-0 fashion against Robin Haase.

Roger Federer from Switzerland reacts during his finals match against Juan Martin Del Potro from Argentina at the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, USA, 18 March 2018. EPA-EFE/MIKE NELSON

Chung joins Roger Federer and Milos Raonic as French Open absentees who would have been seeded. Federer is once again skipping the entire clay-court season and Raonic is injured. Feliciano Lopez and Gilles Muller had already moved into seeded spots, while Fernando Verdasco now gets a seed due to Chung’s withdrawal.

This also moves Denis Shapovalov from the No. 25 seed (the 25-32 group) to No. 24 (17-24 group). That means the 19-year-old will avoid the 1-8 seeds (Rafael Nadal, Alexander Zverev, and Dominic Thiem among them) until at least the second week at Roland Garros

Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Steve Darcis, and Cedrik-Marcel Stebe are the other players with direct entry who have already pulled out of the French.

As it stands now, here are the French Open seeds (and groupings):

1) Rafael Nadal

2) Alexander Zverev

3) Marin Cilic

4) Grigor Dimitrov

5) Juan Martin Del Potro

6) Kevin Anderson

7) Dominic Thiem

8) David Goffin

9) John Isner

10) Pablo Carreno Busta

11) Diego Schwartzman