Tennis – Wimbledon – All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain – July 12, 2023 Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina in action during her quarter-final match against Ons Jabeur REUTERS/Hannah Mckay/File Photo by Tunisia Acquire license rights
Sept 25 (Reuters) – Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina withdrew from the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo on Monday, days after criticizing the WTA for introducing performance exemptions at the tournament.
Byes are usually awarded to higher-ranked players, but performance byes allow players who performed well the previous week to advance directly to the second round of the following tournament.
Byes to the Pan Pacific Open were awarded to Maria Sakkari, who won the Guadalajara Open title Saturday, and Caroline Garcia, who reached the semi-finals. Both players are ranked lower than Rybakina, who faced Linda Noskova in the first round.
“As a player I want to give my all on the pitch and at the moment my body is not ready to do that,” Rybakina said on Instagram.
“That’s why I decided to listen to my body and withdraw from the tournament. I love Japan, my fans here are so unique and that’s why it’s a difficult decision.”
Rybakina said her decision to withdraw from the tournament had nothing to do with her missing a bye, adding: “The subject of the WTA is another subject on which I have my opinions and I will express them clearly in the future.”
Reporting by Aadi Nair from Bangalore Editing by Christian Radnedge
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