Elena Rybakina Set To Exit Top 10 After Over 2 Years Following Questionable Decision
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Elena Rybakina will exit the Top 10 after over two years next week, as she is set to lose points that she earned at last year's Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
Rybakina has been one of the best performers on the WTA Tour in the past few years, but her ranking almost never reflected that. First, she won the Wimbledon Championships in 2022, and since there were no points awarded at Wimbledon that year because of the ban on Russian and Belarusian players, the Kazakhstani player didn't get her deserved Top 10 breakthrough.
But she didn't have to wait for too long for that. After reaching the 2023 Australian Open final, Rybakina earned enough points to enter the Top 10 on January 30th, 2023, thanks to a 15-place jump.
Since then, the Wimbledon champion has remained inside the Top 10, but that streak will come to an end on April 21st, 2025. Last year, Rybakina won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, but this year, she chose not to defend her title at the WTA 500 event.
That means that the 25-year-old will lose 500 points that she earned in Stuttgart last year, and after her total will fall to 3,308 points, she will be overtaken by Emma Navarro, who will have at least 3,797 points on Monday.
Considering that Navarro was only 11 points behind Rybakina in the latest edition of the WTA Rankings, the Kazakhstani player's Top 10 exit seemed inevitable. Even if she competed in Stuttgart, Navarro still had a big chance to overtake Rybakina.
Still, Rybakina's decision to fly to Australia to compete in the Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers was surprising. Many top players, such as Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, and Jessica Pegula, chose to skip the Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers this year because of the scheduling clash.
Rybakina, who had the furthest travel of them all, as Kazakhstan was drawn in a group in Australia, chose to represent her country, and she helped Kazakhstan to reach the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup finals.
In her singles matches, Rybakina beat Kimberly Birrell and Yuliana Lizarazo, which significantly helped her country to secure the top spot in Group D.
Still, Rybakina's decision might be questioned in the future, as a possible fall down the rankings could cost her chances at future tournaments, considering she could meet her biggest rivals like Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek in the earlier rounds.
After ending her 116-week streak in the Top 10, Rybakina will try to enter the Top 10 again thanks to her performances at the upcoming events. Her next tournament will be the Madrid Open.
