Reigning Olympic champ Puig will not play Australian Open

Puerto Rico's Monica Puig, the gold medalist at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, said on Thursday that she was recovering from elbow surgery and would not compete at the Australian Open.

Puig said in a statement posted on Twitter that she underwent an operation earlier this week in New York for an elbow injury "that bothered me for some time and gave me persistent pain".

The 26-year-old Puig said doctors operated on "the ulnar nerve in my right elbow", reports Efe news

"That unfortunately means that I will be missing the beginning of the season and the Australian Open," the first Grand Slam event of the 2020 season, the world No. 79 said.

The Olympic champion said that "the good news is ... thanks to Dr. Altchek and the whole team at the Hospital for Special Surgery, we found and fixed the problem."

"We anticipate a speedy recovery and I hope to be back on the court ASAP!"

"I have been clearly struggling for the past three years, dealing with all that pressure and expectation that came after winning gold in the 2016 Olympics. It's probably been the hardest three years that I've ever faced in my entire life," Puig said in a post on her Instagram account.

Puig, who is now coached by Belgian Philippe DeHaes, saw her ranking fall as low as 81 on the WTA Tour this year.