Paris (AFP)
Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, ranked fourth in the world, announced her withdrawal from the Asian tour due to a back injury, and will miss the last two major tournaments this season, Beijing (September 25 to October 6) and Wuhan, China (October 7 to 13), both of which are for the 1,000 points.
“Due to an ongoing back injury, I must, unfortunately, withdraw from the next two Asian tournaments,” the 26-year-old said in a statement carried by the WTA. “I have worked hard to recover, but my medical team and I have decided it is best to preserve my health at this time.”
However, Rybakina hopes to at least be ready for the WTA Finals, which brings together the top eight players of the season and is scheduled to take place from November 2-9 in Riyadh.
Rybakina concluded her statement by saying: “The season was complicated with my team, we will work so that I can return to play in the final tournament of the season.”
Rybakina has won three tournaments since the start of the season in the 500-point category (Brisbane, Australia, Abu Dhabi and Stuttgart, Germany), and reached the final match of the Doha and Miami American 1000-point tournaments.
The Kazakh was forced not to defend her titles in the Indian Wells and Rome tournaments.
In the Grand Slams, she was eliminated in the second round at the Australian Open, reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros, and the semi-finals at Wimbledon, but was forced to withdraw before her second match at the US Open due to a back injury, and has been out of action since.
