Aryna Sabalenka‘s late withdrawal from the 2024 Wimbledon Championships will come at a personal cost, as she could lose her spot in the top three of the WTA rankings.
Sabalenka shocked the tennis world on the opening day of this year’s Championships when she announced that she was pulling out from the event just hours before her first-round match against Emina Bektas.
She explained that she was “heartbroken” to have to make this decision despite working tirelessly behind the scenes to recover from the shoulder injury she sustained while competing at the WTA 500 event in Berlin.
Sabalenka could not complete her match against Anna Kalinskaya in the German capital and had to retire while trailing 1-5 in the opening set. In the days leading up to Wimbledon, she considered withdrawing but wanted to give herself additional recuperation time.
But on Monday, the Belarusian left the practice courts a lot earlier, presumably to the referee’s office, to tender her withdrawal notice. This means she won’t be defending Wimbledon semifinal points from last year.
That’s precisely 780 points that will be chalked off at the end of the fortnight. She is currently World No. 3 and ceded her position in the top two to Coco Gauff a few weeks ago. The young American is nailed on keeping the World No. 2 ranking.
However, Sabalenka is likely to drop to World No. 4 if Elena Rybakina wins the tournament. The Kazakhstani is no stranger to lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish at SW19, having done so in 2022.
In the live rankings, Rybakina has 5666 points after a routine opening win on Tuesday. She is ranked fourth and can garner a maximum of 7596 if she wins the title.
Sabalenka, meanwhile, will be stuck on 7061 points and can’t add to that tally for the next two weeks. Her best bet to remain World No. 3 is that Rybakina doesn’t win her second Wimbledon title.