“I decided to listen to my body”- Elena Rybakina clarifies shock Japan Open withdrawal, promises to address WTA’s controversial Performance Byes soon

Elena Rybakina has elaborated on the reason behind withdrawing from the upcoming Tokyo Open. She revealed that she wants to take care of her physical wellbeing by listening to her body. But that was not all; she even vowed to voice her opinions on her disgruntlement with the WTA in time.

Elena Rybakina was set to face Linda Nosokova in her first-round match in Tokyo. But even before players had set foot on the court, the problems had started brewing.

The Kazakh was demoted to the 5th seed to accommodate Maria Sakkari under a clause called performance bye. This irked Elena Rybakina enough for her to fume publicly and criticize the WTA.

Elena Rybakina ultimately announced her withdrawal from the tournament, and many naturally thought this “slight” on the WTA’s part was the reason. However, she has indicated that it is a decision also driven by her body’s need to rest and sustain itself.

While not everyone will buy that, the 24-year-old has indeed had a fairly trying season. Especially over and following Roland Garros. The Kazakh has never really looked settled enough to play her best tennis.

In a post on her Instagram account, Elena Rybakina provided further clarification of her withdrawal while also addressing her issue with WTA. The 2022 Wimbledon champion has said that her body is simply not ready to enable her to give her best on court. Elena also expressed how tough the decision was to make since it would disappoint her fans in Japan.

“As a player I want to give my all on the court and at the moment my body is not ready to do that. 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”, she wrote.

Elena Rybakina did not stop there. She went on to address the elephant in the room but stopped short of having her say.

Instead, she asserted that she has opinions on the WTA and the various issues she’s had with the association, no less the performance bye, and that she will voice them clearly in the future. The World No. 5 concluded by thanking her fans for their support.

“The WTA topic is another topic, on which I have my opinions and will clearly voice them in future. To my fans, thank you for your support, I appreciate it very much,” she added.

Elena Rybakina qualifies for the WTA Finals

Despite having a troublesome second half of the season in 2023, Elelna Rybakina will scale new heights before the season closes out. The Kazakh has qualified for the year-ending WTA Finals for the first time in her career. She joins World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, and the recently crowned US Open champion Coco Gauff.

The WTA Finals will be held in Cancun, Mexico, this year, a decision that came with its own baggage. After numerous weeks of uncertainty over the venue and rumors of Saudi Arabia hosting, the WTA finally announced Mexico as the destination.

This, however, put the WTA under further pressure since the Billie Jean King Cup is set to kick off on November 7 in Spain. This will mean players who will compete at the WTA Finals will have very little time to rest and recover, not just from their matches but also from the long travel.

Elena Rybakina, who has had quite a few disagreements with the way WTA has handled the scheduling, might have something to add of her own on this soon enough, as per her recent post.