Anisimova, Alexandrova withdraw from Madrid due to injury

Two seeded players, No. 6 Amanda Anisimova and No. 12 Ekaterina Alexandrova, have been forced to withdraw from the 2026 Mutua Madrid Open. Two-time major finalist Anisimova cited a wrist injury, while Alexandrova cited a lower back injury.

Alexandrova was replaced in the draw by Maria Sakkari as the No. 33 seed and Anisimova was replaced by Magdalena Frech as the No. 34 seed, both with first-round byes. Sakkari and Frech's original first-round opponents, Janice Tjen and Katerina Siniakova, will instead face qualifiers or lucky losers to be drawn at the close of the final qualifying round.

Anisimova has not competed since a fourth-round loss in Miami to Belinda Bencic, and subsequently withdrew from Charleston due to an unspecified injury. She was nominated for Comeback of the Year in this week's Laureus World Sports Awards, also held in Madrid, but lost out to golfer Rory McIlroy.

Alexandrova also withdrew from Charleston due to a lower back injury. She returned to action two weeks ago, but lost her Linz opener to Karolina Pliskova and fell in the Stuttgart second round to Linda Noskova.

Other withdrawals from Madrid prior to the main draw being made include Great Britain's Sonay Kartal, who will miss the entire clay-court swing due to a back injury; France's Varvara Gracheva, who will also miss the entire clay-court season after tearing her ACL in practice at the end of March; Australia's Maya Joint, due to a back injury; Emma Navarro, due to continuing illness; Emma Raducanu and Marketa Vondrousova.