Chelsea Defender Wesley Fofana Could Miss Rest of the Season with Hamstring Injury

FILE - Chelsea's Wesley Fofana looks on during the English Premier League soccer match between Leicester City and Chelsea at King Power stadium in Leicester, England, Saturday, March 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira, File)
FILE - Chelsea's Wesley Fofana looks on during the English Premier League soccer match between Leicester City and Chelsea at King Power stadium in Leicester, England, Saturday, March 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira, File)
TT

Chelsea Defender Wesley Fofana Could Miss Rest of the Season with Hamstring Injury

FILE - Chelsea's Wesley Fofana looks on during the English Premier League soccer match between Leicester City and Chelsea at King Power stadium in Leicester, England, Saturday, March 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira, File)
FILE - Chelsea's Wesley Fofana looks on during the English Premier League soccer match between Leicester City and Chelsea at King Power stadium in Leicester, England, Saturday, March 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira, File)

Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana's season could be over because of a hamstring injury, The Associated Press reported.
The 24-year-old Frenchman, who missed the entire 2023-24 campaign after ACL surgery, hasn't played since Dec. 1 when he was substituted out of the 3-0 win over Aston Villa.
Blues manager Enzo Maresca said Friday that Fofana's injury was worse than initially feared and that the center back will be out “for a very long time." There was no immediate plan for surgery.
“He could be out for the season,” Maresca said. “We don’t know exactly if for the entire season, but unfortunately he could be out for part of the season."
Fofana became one of the most expensive defenders in soccer history when he joined Chelsea in the summer of 2022 from Leicester for a fee of 75 million pounds ($93 million).
“For sure, for us Wes is a huge loss,” Maresca said.
Fofana made only 15 Premier League appearances in 2022-23.
“I don’t think this kind of injury can be compared to the rest," Maresca said. "This one is muscle and I think that previously he never had any muscle problems, so it’s a completely different kind of injury. It’s a bit unlucky, but he will be back and he will be back good in the way he was before he was injured.”
Chelsea is fourth in the Premier League standings, 10 points behind leader Liverpool. The Blues play at Crystal Palace on Saturday.



Sinner, Djokovic in Opposite Halves at Australian Open, Sabalenka vs Stephens in 1st Round

09 January 2025, Australia, Melbourne: Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka (L) and Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner pose with Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup and the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup during the draw for the 2025 Australian Open tennis tournament, at Melbourne Park, Melbourne. Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP/dpa
09 January 2025, Australia, Melbourne: Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka (L) and Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner pose with Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup and the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup during the draw for the 2025 Australian Open tennis tournament, at Melbourne Park, Melbourne. Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP/dpa
TT

Sinner, Djokovic in Opposite Halves at Australian Open, Sabalenka vs Stephens in 1st Round

09 January 2025, Australia, Melbourne: Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka (L) and Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner pose with Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup and the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup during the draw for the 2025 Australian Open tennis tournament, at Melbourne Park, Melbourne. Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP/dpa
09 January 2025, Australia, Melbourne: Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka (L) and Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner pose with Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup and the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup during the draw for the 2025 Australian Open tennis tournament, at Melbourne Park, Melbourne. Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP/dpa

Defending champion Jannik Sinner and 10-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic have landed in opposite sides of the draw for the season’s first major, ruling out a replay of last year’s semifinal match.
Sinner upset Djokovic in the semifinals at the Australian Open last year before coming back to beat Daniil Medvedev in the final 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 for his first Grand Slam singles title.
Top-ranked Sinner has a first-round match against Nicolas Jarry and also has Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Medvedev in his quarter of the draw. Fritz will open against fellow American Jenson Brooksby.
Djokovic and No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz could meet in the quarterfinals, with a possible semifinal against No. 2 Alexander Zverev.
At the draw Thursday to set the brackets for the singles fields, defending champions Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka walked into the official ceremony holding thei trophies.
Sabalenka won her second consecutive title at Melbourne Park in 2024 by defeating Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Sabalenka will be attempting to win a third consecutive women’s singles title at Melbourne Park, something last accomplished by Martina Hingis from 1997 to 1999.
Sabalenka drew a tough opening match against 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens and has 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva and Zheng in her section.
“I have a lot of great memories and to be back here ... as a two-time Australian Open champion, it’s definitely something special,” Sabalenka, who won the Brisbane International title last week, said at the draw ceremony. “I hope that I can keep doing what I’m doing here in Australia.”
Third-seeded Coco Gauff is a potential semifinal rival for Sabalenka. Gauff has a challenging first-round match against former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin and is in the same section of the draw as seventh-seeded Jessica Pegula.
The Australian Open starts Sunday morning in Melbourne (Saturday night EST) and will run for 15 days.
Djokovic will be playing in his first event alongside new coach Andy Murray, his former on-court rival and a three-time major champion. Nobody has won the men's title at Melbourne Park more often than Djokovic, although he said he still feels trauma from the one year he wasn’t allowed to play.
Nick Kyrgios, the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up who withdrew from an exhibition against Djokovic this week because of an abdominal strain, will face Jacob Fearnley in the first round if the mercurial Australian is fit enough to contest his first major since the 2022 US Open. Kyrgios is in the same section as Zverev.