Elena Rybakina is set to drop out of the top 10 of the WTA Rankings for the first time in two years as she was forced to make a tough decision over her Stuttgart Open title defence.
The 2022 Wimbledon champion won the WTA tournament last year after beating then world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the semi-final and surprise finalist Marta Kostyuk in the showpiece match.
But she opted not to return to Germany this year for the Porsche event due to scheduling conflicts as she instead decided to focus on representing Kazakhstan in the Billie Jean King qualifying tournament.
And the decision has come at a cost as it will affect her position in the rankings.
Rybakina was part of the team that beat Australia and Colombia in Group D action at the Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane as she won both her singles matches over the weekend.
With that event taking place in Australia, Rybakina would have had to scramble to get back to Europe in time for the Stuttgart tournament had she entered the event.
Instead, she chose her country over her title defence.
“I know that the schedule overall is very packed, and it’s not easy to even schedule Billie Jean King Cup,” the former world No 3 said.
“But ideally, if we go to one part of the world, it will be nicer to play the same part. Now, for example, the clay court [season] starts and [some have] already played even tournaments on clay.
“So to come back and play hard, it’s a bit tricky. And ideally, if there is a tournament, it’s better to schedule it closer to where we want to be.”
Kazakhstan’s 2-0 win in the qualifiers helped them to secure their place in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in September with the tournament being staged in Shenzhen, China.
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She added: “I can’t play all the tournaments. Of course Stuttgart is nice, but I always like to play team competitions.
“It’s nice to play for your country, so I’m happy to make this decision and I’m happy to play finals [in Shenzhen].”
The 25-year-old will lose 500 ranking points this week, resulting in her dropping out of the top 10.
Rybakina is currently at No 10 on 3,808 points and for now the “punishment” is not too bad as she has slipped just one spot to No 11 in the Live Rankings.
The last time she was outside the top 10 was in January 2023 as she started the year at No 21, but surged back up the list after finishing runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka at the Australian Open.
Rybakina’s next two events are the WTA 1000 Madrid Open and Italian Open before she heads to Paris for the French Open.
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