As the World No. 4 Tennis player, Elena Rybakina announced her withdrawal from the WTA 500 Korean Open, rumors have started to fly regarding her future in tennis. This was an astounding ninth withdrawal from a WTA tournament for the Kazakh this season while having withdrawn from Round 2 of the US Open in September citing ambiguous injuries and health issues. It has been a mighty struggle for her this year and there seems to be no respite with the 2024 season drawing to a close.
Elena Rybakina started the 2024 season on a positive note when she won the Brisbane Open beating Aryna Sabalenka convincingly in the finals. She was one of the favourites for the Australian Open title but got knocked out in the second round. However, she picked herself up and went on to perform exceedingly well in the Middle East swing. She won the Abu Dhabi Open, reached the finals of the Qatar Open which she lost to Iga ?wi?tek and also made it to the last eight in Dubai when her health issues started to surface. In the Dubai Open, she gave a walkover to Jasmine Paolini citing gastroenteritis. She then failed to defend her Indian Wells title as she had still not fully recovered from her illness dropping a massive 1000 ranking points. The same story continued in the Italian Open where she failed to defend her WTA 1000 title yet again.
The French Open came next where she was shocked by Jasmine Paolini in the Quarter-Finals and her post-match comments suggested that she had not completely recovered from her prior illness and felt fatigued by the latter stages of the game which resulted in the shock exit from the Clay tournament. Rybakina was primed to start the grass court season well by participating in the Berlin Open but an abdominal injury forced her to withdraw in the second round there too. She withdrew from the Eastbourne International next, quoting scheduling decisions and went into the Wimbledon with hardly any practise. However, the 2022 Wimbledon Singles Champion did perform exceptionally on the Wimbledon grass reaching the Semi-Finals before losing to eventual champion Barbora Krej?íková.
It felt like things were finally turning around for the better but her situation only went downhill from here. She failed to participate at the 2024 Paris Olympics citing acute bronchitis which prevented her from participating in the Canadian Open as well. It got even more complicated as a few days prior to the US Open, she announced that she had parted ways with Stefano Vukov, her coach of five years. The timing of this decision made very little sense before a major Grand Slam tournament and hence drew surprising reactions from fans and experts alike. There had been instances captured during live games in previous tournaments where her coach seemed very intimidating and openly showed displeasure over her performance. There were times, Rybakina had to defend their relationship in the media but the decision to let go of the coach meant that this coach-player relation had run its course. Also, her coach Stefano Vukov had been removed from the WTA roster of coaches implying a coaching ban which implies that there could have been serious discord.
There were also serious doubts about her participation at the US Open as she had missed pre-tournament practise and was without a coach but to the relief of her fans, she turned up for the first round and won in straight sets. But prior to her second-round match, she stunned everyone with her withdrawal stating health issues and injuries. The statement seemed very ambiguous with no clear indication about injury or illness. Her latest withdrawal from the Korean Open has further added fuel to fire with fans and ex-players running amok with different kinds of theories and worrying about her future in tennis. But this time she has mentioned having a back injury which has prevented her from participation.
It’s a strange situation for a highly talented player who is looked upon as a major threat for any opponent. She is probably one of those few players on the women’s tour who has a great game on all surfaces. In addition to one of the best serves and aggressive style of play, she has a calm demeanor and hardly looks under pressure. It is indeed a shame for a player of her calibre to not win a Grand Slam or a WTA 1000 event this year. Furthermore, there have been comments on social media from fans who think she is nonchalant and not serious about tennis. Some ex-players like Andy Roddick and Kim Clijsters have spoken at length about her situation and they have speculated that there’s more to it than meets the eye.
I wouldn’t want to add my own twist to any theories but, in my opinion, she is not just going through a physical injury but could also be fatigued mentally. Professional tennis is a lonely sport, the pressure of expectation from high ranked players, the media glare and staying away from family and friends for a majority of the year can play on a player’s mind especially when they are not performing up to expectations and suffering from persistent illness or injury. The reason I speak about the mental aspect is because having followed Rybakina the entire season, you get a feeling she has looked way out of sorts and unhappy on the court for almost the entire season barring the early part of the year and Wimbledon.
Though people can only speculate until Rybakina comes out in the open herself and provides some kind of explanation for this whole situation. All we can do as tennis aficionados is hope that it’s not a career-threatening injury or illness and hope she comes back stronger and has an injury-free and successful 2025.
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