Elena Rybakina played in the Australian Open final last year, so crashing out before that stage this year means she will lose plenty of points in the rankings.
Rybakina's goal was clearly to win the season's first Grand Slam. As last year's runner-up and one of the best players in the world, it's what she came to do in Melbourne. Her intentions were quite clear in Brisbane when she bested everyone, including Aryna Sabalenka, in the final to win the trophy.
Unfortunately, she ran into an inspired Anna Blinkova, who played one of her best matches ever to take Rybakina down. It was a complicated match, though Rybakina could have won because she had six match points.
She couldn't use any of them and paid the price for it. The price will be a drop in the WTA Rankings, which isn't significant, but it will still hurt her moving forward.
A weaker ranking impacts a player's draw, which then can impact their results, and cause even further drop, creating a whole cycle that could have been prevented.
As a result of her second-round loss, the Kazakhstani player will lose 1230 points, losing exactly two positions in the WTA Rankings to Coco Gauff, who will improve to at least third, and Jessica Pegula, who will be fourth after the tournament.
Luckily for Rybakina, no other players can overtake her, as she has over a 1600-point lead over her closest competitor, sixth Ons Jabeur, and the closest player still in play is Jelena Ostapenko, who can't improve her points total to more than 4898 points, making it impossible for her to overtake Rybakina with 5688.
Current Live WTA Rankings:
| Rank | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Iga Swiatek | 9770 |
| 2. | Aryna Sabalenka | 7035 |
| 3. | Coco Gauff | 6550 |
| 4. | Jessica Pegula | 5705 |
| 5. | Elena Rybakina | 5688 |
| 6. | Ons Jabeur | 4076 |
| 7. | Marketa Vondrousova | 3846 |
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