While many have already started talking about the WTA's Big Three forming up, Elena Rybakina is actually set to drop out of the Top 3.
Over the past two seasons, three players have been dominant on the WTA Tour and won all the Grand Slam titles except for the most recent Wimbledon. While Iga Swiatek won the 2022 and 2023 Roland Garros, and the 2022 US Open, Elena Rybakina won the 2022 Wimbledon, and Aryna Sabalenka won the 2023 Australian Open.
Their success has also been reflected by the WTA Rankings as they were the top three ranked players for some time. While the 22-year-old Pole still leads, the 25-year-old Belarusian is closing up, but one player that is behind the two is Elena Rybakina.
The 24-year-old Kazakhstani player has more than a 3000-point gap to second Sabalenka, and her gap is actually so significant, that Rybakina will drop to the fourth place in the newest WTA Rankings on Monday, as she will be overtaken by Jessica Pegula, who made it to the 2023 Citi Open semifinals.
While Rybakina has 5465 points, the American is set to have at least 5480 points on Monday, but Pegula's return to her career-high may be short-lived. The reason is that while the 2022 Wimbledon champion will drop to the fourth place, she actually doesn't have a lot of points to defend in the remainder of the season.
Out of her 5465 points, Rybakina collected 4891 in 2023, and in the 2023 WTA Race, she's still third behind Sabalenka and Swiatek, only trailing the first Belarusian by 1564 points, and ahead of the fourth Pegula, she has a comfortable 1731-point lead.
Rybakina's drop is also a reflection of her recent health struggles, but with so few points to defend in the remainder of the season, the Kazakhstani player is actually still in contention for the world no. 1 spot, despite currently trailing Swiatek by more than 4000 points.
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