Wimbledon 2016: Sixth seed Victoria Azarenka withdraws due to knee injury

Two-time Grand Slam winner Victoria Azarenka has been forced to withdraw from Wimbledon, just four days before the 2016 Championships are due to get underway at London's All England Club.

Her withdrawal from Wimbledon means that Britain's Johanna Konta jumps one place to become the 16th seed. Venus Williams also moves up to number eight and Andrea Petkovic joins the list of seeded players.

The Belarussian, Azarenka, confirmed as the sixth seed on Wednesday (22 June), has been struggling with a knee injury that forced her retirement during the latter stages of a first-round meeting with Karin Knapp at the French Open in May.

Azarenka has twice reached the semi-finals at SW19, losing in three sets to eventual champion Petra Kvitova in 2011 and again in 2012, having been eliminated by Serena Williams. The reigning world number one ended Azarenka's campaign at Wimbledon last year with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory, this time in the last eight.

The 26-year-old, a double champion at the Australian Open, who has also reached the US Open final twice, has enjoyed success on the WTA tour over recent months. She beat Angelique Kerber to triumph at the Brisbane International in January before losing to the German in the quarter-finals of the year's first major.

Azarenka later saw off Williams in straight sets to win the Indian Wells Masters and backed that up by dispatching French Open champion Garbine Muguruza, Konta, Kerber and Svetlana Kuznetsova en route to success in Miami.

She pulled out of April's Madrid Open with a back problem and suffered a second-round upset at the hands of Irina-Camelia Begu at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.