Azarenka puts ranking first

Victoria Azarenka has taken to Twitter to explain why she played in Rome this week.

World number one had hoped to give Rome a miss this week

Victoria Azarenka has taken to Twitter to explain why she played in Rome this week. The world number one beat Shahar Peer in her opening match on Wednesday but pulled out before her third round tie with Dominika Cibulkova with a shoulder injury. The Belarusian did not want to take part in this week's tournament after losing to Serena Williams in the final of the Madrid Open on Sunday, but needed to protect her top ranking. "I was conflicted and disappointed to withdraw from Rome," she tweeted. "I tried my hardest but I wasn't healthy going into the tournament. "If WTA rules were different then I could have focused on getting healthy, but I could not afford another zero pointer on my ranking. "Hopefully in the future there will be more protection for players rights." A zero pointer means players have to include that particular tournament in their ranking calculations and cannot replace it with another.