(Paris) The Kazakh Elena Rybakina, 4e world champion, withdrew from the Asian tour on Monday due to a back injury and will therefore miss the last two major tournaments of the season, the WTA 1000 in Beijing (September 25–October 6) and Wuhan (October 7–13).
“Due to a persistent back injury, I regretfully have to withdraw from the upcoming Asian tournaments. I have worked hard to recover, but my medical team and I have decided that it is best to preserve my health at this time,” the 25-year-old announced in a statement relayed by the WTA.
Third in the Race, the real-time world ranking, Rybakina nevertheless hopes to be in good shape for the final event of the season, the WTA Masters which will bring together the eight best players of the season from November 2 to 9 in Riyadh.
“The season was complicated […] “With my team, we will work so that I can be back on the court for the season finale,” she concluded in her statement.
Rybakina won three WTA 500 events at the start of the season (Brisbane, Abu Dhabi, Stuttgart) and reached the finals of the WTA 1000 events in Doha and Miami.
But she had to give up defending her titles in Indian Wells and Rome.
In Grand Slams, she lost in the second round at the Australian Open, reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros and the semifinals at Wimbledon, but had to withdraw before her second match at the US Open due to back problems. She has not played competitively since.