Defending champion faces rankings hammer blow after Italian Open withdrawal

Elena Rybakina’s health problems have struck again, as she has been forced to pull out of the Italian Open on the eve of her opening match. 

The defending champion confirmed she was pulling out of the tournament in a statement that confirmed ill-health was the issue once again after several months of problems for the former Wimbledon champion.

Now she has been forced to abandon her attempts to defend her title in Rome, as she confirmed her absence with this statement.

“I am disappointed to have to withdraw from Rome this year, but unfortunately I do not feel well enough to compete,” said Rybakina.

“I have such good memories from last year and was looking forward to defending my title.

“Rome is so special to me, and I look forward to being back next year to reclaim my title and play in front of the Italian fans.”

Rybakina has been forced to pull out of a few high-profile tournaments in recent months and she is believed to suffer from allergies in Rome and also in Paris, where the French Open gets underway later this month.

Rybakina struggled to answer questions during her pre-tournament press conference and appeared to be battling an illness, so this exit without hitting a ball may not be surprising.

Rybakina was scheduled to face Irina-Camelia Begu in her opening round after receiving a first-round bye, but the bigger concern for Rybakina will be the blow to her WTA Ranking.

She was defending 1,000 ranking points after her Italian Open win last year, but all of those points will now drop off her record.

It means she will fall further behind world No 1 Iga Swiatek, with any hopes she had of overtaking the Polish star at the top of the rankings over for the immediate future.

Rybakina has confirmed she is a threat to Swiatek when they play against each other, but she is set to be more than 4,500 points behind the top-ranked player by the end of this tournament.

Coco Gauff has a chance to take over as world No 2 if she has a better run than Aryna Sabalenka in Rome.

It seemed as if Gauff’s hopes of a leap to a new career-high ranking would be cleared after Sabalenk lost the first set of her opening match in Rome against Katie Volynets.

Yet the Belarusian displayed her fighting qualities to grind out a 4-6 6-3 6-2 win, with her effort all the more impressive after she revealed her own battle with illness.

“Honestly, for someone who has been sick for four days and couldn’t get out of bed I think I played really quite well,” said Sabalenka.

“In the first set I just didn’t feel my tennis at all, I couldn’t feel the rhythm. Just different conditions. So in the second set I said whatever, just do your best with what you have today.

“I played two incredible weeks in Madrid. I had so many tough matches there.

“I guess (getting sick) was the pay-off, but I’m happy that I started feeling better and I could get on court and keep fighting. Hopefully, with the days, I’ll feel better tennis-wise and health-wise.”