American Nicole Gibbs has withdrawn from this month’s French Open after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that was found by her dentist.

Gibbs, 26, said she was alerted to a growth on the roof of her mouth, with a subsequent biopsy coming back positive for salivary gland cancer.

The world number 117 will have surgery on Friday and said there is a “great prognosis” for this type of cancer.

She added she hopes to return for Wimbledon qualifying in June.

“Unfortunately I will be withdrawing from the remainder of the clay season and will not be competing at this year’s Roland Garros,” Gibbs said on Monday.

“Fortunately this form of cancer has a great prognosis and my surgeon is confident that surgery alone will be sufficient treatment.

“He even okayed me to play an extra couple of tournaments these past few weeks, which served as a nice distraction.”

The 2019 French Open runs from 26 May to 9 June, while qualifying for Wimbledon is set to take place in late June before the tournament starts on 1 July.

Gibbs said she expects a recovery period of four to six weeks but “will be doing everything to shave that down and get back to full health as soon as possible”.