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The mystery of Elena Rybakina’s health woes this year continues. But this time, it’s not just about her.
The 25-year-old Russian, who represents Kazakhstan, waited until after the Olympic draws were made on Thursday to withdraw from the women’s singles and mixed doubles.
The stated reason, as it has been too often in this difficult season, was “illness”.
There hadnt been any further explanation – or even confirmation – from Rykakina, who doesn’t appear to have been spotted at all at Roland Garros in the leadup to the Olympic event.
Just a note on social media from the ITF.
We hope you recover soon, Elena 💛#Paris2024 | #Olympics | #tennis pic.twitter.com/i2CEGpmiv9
— ITF (@ITFTennis) July 25, 2024
About an hour ago, she posted on Instagram that she had contracted “acute bronchitis”, that she had not been able to get back to training and that the doctors had forbidden her to take the court.
Such a shame.
Draws rejigged
With Rybakina’s withdrawal, home girl Caroline Garcia becomes the No. 17 seed and will face Jaqueline Cristian of Romania in the first round
That would have been Rybakina’s opponent. Looming in the second round was the winner of Naomi Osaka v Angelique Kerber.
Alternate Daria Saville of Australia moves into Garcia’s spot, and will play No. 6 seed Zheng Qinwen of China.
It does weaken that section for Canadian Leylah Fernandez, who would have had the No. 4 seed Rybakina as a third-round opponent and now would face Garcia. But not by that much.
Fernandez still has to get past the unseeded and dangerous Karolina Muchova in the first round before she can even think of that.
A long list of withdrawals
There have been many bright moments in 2024 for Rybakina, who is 40-8 on the season and has three titles. But more than anything, her season will be remembered for its early exits and withdrawals.
For the most part, the stated reason has been “illness”.
Rybakina was nigh-on unbeatable to start the season, when she rolled through to the title in Brisbane. She never lost more than five games in any of her matches. And she blitzed Aryna Sabalenka 6-0 6-3 in the final.
But at the Australian Open, she was out in the second round after losing a 22-20 match tiebreak to Anna Blinkova.
A few weeks later, she won the WTA 500 in Abu Dhabi and reached the final in Doha. The next week, at the WTA 1000 in Dubai, she withdrew before the quarterfinals against Jasmine Paolini (who won it all) after just one completed match.
When she withdrew from Indian Wells in March, she cited a gastrintestinal illness. And when she arrived in Miami, she certainly didn’t look 100 per cent. But she battled hard through the draw beating Taylor Townsend, Madison Keys, Maria Sakkari and Victoria Azarenka before losing to Danielle Collins in the final.
Then, a few weeks later, she won Stuttgart – a title that included a win over world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals.
Her match in the Madrid semifinals against Sabalenka will go down as one of the best matches of 2024, even though she came out on the losing end.
“Not well enough to compete”
Rybaina didn’t practice for 3-4 days after that effort, she said. During her pre-tournament press for Rome on the first Tuesday, she mentioned an intensive preparation block before the clay. And that she felt as though she had played a lot of tennis. And that the new, extended two-week events felt very long and “kind of boring”.
But then a few days later she withdrew from Rome – where she was the reigning champion. Rybakina said this in a statement:
“I am disappointed to have to withdraw from Rome this year, but unfortunately I do not feel well enough to compete. I have such good memories from last year and was looking forward to defending my title.”
Those statements are required by the WTA Tour when a player withdraws late. In this case, it was just ahead of her first match, scheduled against Irina-Camelia Begu on the Centrale later that day.
Rybakina lost in three sets to Jasmine Paolini in the Roland Garros quarterfinals.
Before the tournament, there was doubt that she would make the date. She arrived on site rather late and didn’t even practice there until a hit with Aryna Sabalenka, three days before the tournament’s Sunday start.
Below, on the Friday, she took it pretty easy, getting hand-fed some balls from coach Stefano Vukov before doing some hitting with a practice partner.
In the end, she made the date and had a decent tournament.
Asked about her health woes in Paris, she … didn’t have much to say.
“Of course now I’m feeling much better, and it’s always pity to miss these big tournaments. But if the health issues are there, then you cannot do anything,” she said before the tournament.
After her first-round win over Greet Minnen, she said this:
“I mean, for sure physically I’m much better than last year since I had to withdraw. I had COVID, so of course, now I’m much better. The questions are quite the same, so I don’t know what to say anymore.”
After she defeated Elise Merten sin the third round, she was slightly more expansive.
“I’ve been struggling a bit with sleep, some issues. So, of course, I had to skip tournaments. Also allergies and everything. Now I’m feeling pretty well and focused,” she said. “I think everybody when they work a lot, it’s not easy to sleep. Then the recovery is not the greatest. … I think everybody faces some issues. It can be anything. So I don’t know what to answer more on that.”
She said she had not taken any specific steps to delve into the health issues that had affected her season. And after her next round she said she’d lost some physical conditioning in the previous few weeks, lost a bit of weight.
After her loss to Paolini, she said she thought maybe the health issues the previous few weeks had caught up with her, and that she was proud of how she had “managed some moments on the court not maybe feeling so well”.
She said that in 2023 it had been mostly back problems whereas this year, it was mostly allergies and sleeping issues.
Nothing since the grass
It’s been dodgy since then. She retired down 3-1 in the first set to Victoria Azarenka in Berlin on the grass. And then, despite being the No. 1 seed, she withdrew from Eastbourne.
Then she made a terrific run to the WImbledon semifinals.
But Rybakina hasn’t really been seen since, save for a few vacation shots post-Wimbledon.
No mixed with Bublik
Rybakina wasn’t set to play women’s doubles, even though another player from Kazakhstan, Yulia Putintseva, was qualified.
But she was due to play mixed doubles with her friend Alexander Bublik. So she left him partnerless.
The pair was first to meet No. 3 seeds Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz in the small, 16-team draw in which two victories had you playing for medal.
You would have thought perhaps they could have swapped out Putintseva (we’d have to crunch the numbers on that – if that’s even allowed. But perhaps Bublik only wanted to play the mixed because he would be playing with his friend.
They are replaced by the Argentines Maximo Gonzalez and Nadia Podoroska.
You would imagine this is probably a disappointment for both.
As much as we’ve observed Rybakina on the practice court during the last few years, a practice with Bublik at Eastbourne in 2022 was the only time we’ve seen her enjoying her time out there.
She warmed him up before his match against Frances Tiafoe. And he came back and won it.
Even if she’s not revealing much publicly, you have to hope that she’s fully on the job trying to figure out a solution to her wavering health. There’s still a lot of season left to play.
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