Elena Rybakina released a new statement following her withdrawal from the WTA 500 in Tokyo. The world No 5 had previously criticised the WTA for awarding performance byes at the tournament, meaning she didn’t get a pass into the second round. Rybakina rubbished any speculation that she pulled out because of the bye issue. But she made it clear that she still had “opinions” on the WTA.
Rybakina cleared things up on Monday after withdrawing from the Toray Pan Pacific Open ahead of her first match. The third seed had already caused a stir when she put the WTA on blast for giving performance byes to those who went deep in Guadalajara next week.
The tournament confirmed that the 24-year-old was prioritising her “health and fitness” when her withdrawal was announced. But there was still speculation online that she decided not to play because of her feelings about the lack of a regular bye into the second round.
Rybakina has now taken to Instagram to issue a statement clarifying the reason she skipped the tournament. “As a player I want to give my all on the court and at the moment my body is not ready to do that,” she wrote.
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“That’s why I decided to listen to my body and withdraw from the tournament. I love Japan, my fans here are so unique and for that reason this is a tough decision.” The 2022 Wimbledon champion then turned her attention to the WTA and made it clear that she still had some strong views.
Revealing that she would address her issues later on, Rybakina continued: “The WTA topic is another topic, on which I have my opinions and will clearly voice them in the future.” When the draw for the Tokyo tournament first came out, the top two seeds received a regular bye to the second round while Caroline Garcia and Maria Sakkari were given byes based on their performances in Guadalajara last week – making the semi-final and winning the title respectively.
Rybakina made her feelings clear as the bye she would have received as the third seed was reallocated. “Performance bye. Thank you for changing the rules last moment. Great decision as always @wta,” she wrote with a clown and circus tent emoji.
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