Rybakina pulls out of Tokyo Open after slamming ‘clown’ WTA over rule change

Elena Rybakina has withdrawn from the WTA 500 event in Tokyo days after she slammed the WTA for introducing performance byes at the tournament. It meant that, despite being the third seed, she didn’t get a free pass into the second round and needed to play her opening match as usual. But the world No 5 said she needed to “get healthy” as she pulled out ahead of her clash with Linda Noskova.

Rybakina took to Instagram to call out the WTA on Saturday after learning that she would not be receiving a bye at the Toray Pan Pacific Open. Instead, the women’s tour returned to using performance byes – allowing players who had gone deep in other tournaments the previous week to get directly into the second round so they had time to travel over and adjust.

The change was buried inside the WTA’s rulebook but it appeared that it wasn’t communicated with the players as the 2022 Wimbledon champion was left fuming when the draw was made and she learned that she had to play in the first round while players ranked below her got a free pass. “Performance bye. Thank you for changing the rules last moment,” she wrote alongside a screenshot of the draw.

“Great decisions as always @wta,” she added, using clown and circus tent emojis. Rybakina has now pulled out of the tournament citing her health as fans have been left speculating whether she would have been fine to play had she had an extra few days to rest with a bye.

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In a statement given to the tournament, the 24-year-old said: “I’m really sorry to have to withdraw from Tokyo this year. I was really looking forward to playing the event and I love the city.

“I have to prioritise my health and fitness and need time to get to 100 per cent health.” It’s not the first time that health issues have stopped Rybakina from competing this season.

The world No 5 was forced to pull out of the French Open ahead of her third-round match after picking up a viral illness. Rybakina was forced to stay in her hotel room for days and she returned on the grass in Berlin but lost in the second round. And the illness was still hanging around in Eastbourne as Rybakina had to withdraw before the tournament started.

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The Tokyo WTA 500 was set to be Rybakina’s first tournament since she suffered a disappointing third-round exit at the US Open. But the Kazakh was left frustrated when the bye she would usually receive for being the third seed was instead allocated to those who had a deep run in Guadalajara last week.

Maria Sakkari and Caroline Garcia received byes after the top two seeds Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula. Sakkari lifted the title on Sunday while the Frenchwoman reached the semi-final, leaving them with minimal turnaround time to fly to Tokyo and be ready to compete.

While Rybakina wasn’t happy at what she thought was a “change” in the rules, the 2023 WTA rulebook states that performance byes can be given for the tournament occupying the same spots in the calendar.

But there is still some confusion as the book uses the examples of WTA 1000 events in Wuhan and Beijing. Wuhan previously occupied the spot of Guadalajara while this week’s WTA 500 in Tokyo sits in the spot of the Beijing tournament.

The rulebook says: “Notwithstanding the foregoing, there will be four (4) byes awarded at the Beijing WTA 1000 Tournament to the semifinalists of the Wuhan WTA 1000 Tournament. Any byes not used by a semi-finalist will not be awarded.”

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