Kontaveit out for rest of 2022 season with back injury

World No. 3 Kontaveit had retired midway through her second-round match last week in Ostrava due to lower back injury.

FILE PHOTO: Estonian World No. 3 Anett Kontaveit is out of the rest of the 2022 season due to back injury.

Anett Kontaveit will be out of action for the rest of the 2022 season, the Estonian World No. 3 said on Friday.

In an Instagram post, the 26-year-old Kontaveit said, “Unfortunately I won’t be able to play in Guadalajara this year as my back is still hurting since Ostrava… I really hope to come back to Mexico next year as I have so many good memories of my time there! This means that it is the end of my 2022 season.”

Kontaveit had retired midway through her second-round match against Czech Republic’s Tereza Martincova in Ostrava, where she was the defending champion, last week due to lower back injury.

Kontaveit was 14th in the race for WTA Finals, which will be held in Fort Worth, with the only tour-level event remaining prior to that being a WTA1000 one in Guadalajara.

Last year, the Estonian had made a late surge, winning three events after US Open to pip Ons Jabeur of Tunisia to the final qualifying spot for the WTA Finals where she eventually lost to Spain’s Garbine Muguruza in the final.

In 2022, Kontaveit won only one title - a WTA500 event in St. Petersburg. She could not make it to third round of any of the four Majors.