Rybakina won’t be making her second Olympic appearance in Paris.
Elena Rybakina’s withdrawals in 2024 continue as the Kazakh tennis star has been forced to withdraw from the Paris Olympics due to an undisclosed reason.
Rybakina, ranked at No. 4 in the world, appeared in the Olympics draw when it was released on Thursday. But hours after drawing Jaqueline Cristian in the singles first round and after she and Alexander Bublik drew Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz in their mixed doubles opener, the 2022 Wimbledon pulled out of the Olympics.
Throughout the year, Rybakina has battled various injuries and illnesses, which caused her also to miss WTA 1000 events in Indian Wells and Rome. And now, Rybakina is again dealing with something and because of that, the 25-year-old Kazakh won’t be making her second Olympic appearance.
In her Olympic debut three years ago, Rybakina did pretty well as she made the semifinal before losing to Belinda Bencic in the semifinal and then also falling short versus Elina Svitolina in the bronze medal.
Since her Olympic debut, Rybakina has become a completely different player and if she was healthy, she would have been among the favorites for the gold medal.
Rybakina suffered a shock loss in her last match player
At this past Wimbledon, Rybakina was looking great and many had her as the absolute favorite for the title after Aryna Sabalenka withdrew and Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff lost early.
But then, Rybakina suffered a shock loss to Barbora Krejcikova in the quarterfinal after the Czech completed a 3-6 6-3 6-4 win.
Later, Rybakina explained what went wrong in her game and allowed Krejcikova to come back.
“I think she raised her first serve percentage in the second set. My percentage dropped a little bit. It went pretty quick. We had a lot of games on deuce, 30-all,” Rybakina explained.
“I think physically I also dropped in some important moments. I should’ve stayed more aggressive with a bit better footwork. But she was playing well, opening up the court. Also serving pretty well. I cannot say much.”