The Italian Open defending champion, Elena Rybakina, withdrew from the WTA 1000 event ahead of her first match.
Rybakina’s biggest clay trophy came last year in the Italian capital when she went all the way to win the trophy. Triumphs along the way included one over defending champion Iga Swiatek, and it was a huge victory for her, which was significant.
She continued to play well on clay after that in Paris, but unfortunately, an illness cut that run short. She’s had some bad luck like this before, and it struck again this week in Rome.
The defending champion is out of the draw after being forced to withdraw from the event due to not feeling well. Unfortunately, it’s something we’ve seen her deal with before, and it unfortunately happened again.
“Unfortunately I don’t feel well enough to compete. I have such good memories from last year and was looking forward to defending my title. Rome is so special to me & I look forward to being back next year to reclaim my title and play in front of the Italian fans.”
It’s just been that kind of year for Rybakina. She had plenty of spectacular moments, like recently winning the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, but then also had many unfortunate moments like this one.
It’s just been that kind of season, but hopefully, it’s nothing serious. The way she worded that doesn’t make it sound like an injury but more like an illness that she’s shown herself to be susceptible to.
It happened last year at Roland Garros, but now it’s a few weeks early. In any case, we wish Rybakina a speedy recovery to see her best tennis at Roland Garros, where she’ll be one of the players expected to go deep.
