Eight-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer was absent from the entry lists released by the tournament on Friday.
The Swiss maestro has not played a match since a quarter-final exit at Wimbledon last year.
There was hope that the 20-time grand slam winner will return to this year’s championship after he underwent another knee surgery last year but his coach had said in March that a return to this year was unlikely.
Joining Roger Federer in being absent from Wimbledon entry lists were the Williams sisters and the world no.2 Daniil Medvedev.
Medvedev’s exclusion was a given along with all the other Russians and Belarusian tennis stars after being banned from this year’s tournament.
The ban prompted ATP and WTA to strip the tournament of ranking points throwing in doubt the participation of top tennis players.
Nadal, who criticized Wimbledon for banning players is expected to miss out as well as he continues to deal with a nagging foot injury even during a stellar run at French Open.
Serena Williams has not taken to tennis courts since injuring herself at this tournament last year while Venus’ last appearance was at a WTA 250 event in Chicago last August.
Serena, a 23-time major winner, has 7 Wimbledon titles to her name while her sister has lifted the trophy 5 times.
Some respite for the SW19 area is the participation of the 4-time Slam champion Naomi Osaka.
The Japanese star had earlier confirmed that she was thinking of skipping the tournament with no ranking points on offer but has decided to change her mind.
The wildcards for the Grand Slam, which takes place from June 27 to July 10, are yet to be announced and we may well see any of these players take the field once again.
