TNT Sports
French Open 2023: Elena Rybakina withdraws from Roland-Garros moments before third-round match in big shock
By
Published 03/06/2023 at 11:53 GMT+1
Kazakhstani tennis player Elena Rybakina was one of the pre-tournament favourites, seeded No. 4 for the 2023 French Open, but her hopes have now been dashed. The 23-year-old current Wimbledon champion has never got past the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros and that will remain the case until at least 2024, after she withdrew before her Saturday third-round tie.
Rybakina withdraws from French Open after struggling to breathe
Video credit: SNTV
Elena Rybakina has withdrawn from the French Open ahead of her third-round match on Saturday morning.
The 23-year-old Kazakhstani player was the No. 4 seed at Roland-Garros and had been hoping to improve upon her best finish in Paris, which was a quarter-final exit in 2021.
The current Wimbledon champion had been due to play her third-round tie against Sara Sorribes Tormo on Saturday morning, with the Spaniard to receive a walkover into the next round.
The WTA confirmed on their official website that, "World No.4 Elena Rybakina withdrew from Roland-Garros due to an upper respiratory illness on Saturday."
Rybakina told a press conference that she did not feel fit enough to compete.
She explained: "I was not feeling good already the day before, so I did not sleep tonight, and had some fever, and today I really tried on the warm-up, and I feel the right decision is to withdraw because it’s really tough to play with these conditions."
Rybakina came to France in promising form.
She had two WTA 1000 event wins this year, including a morale-boosting victory at the Rome Masters a fortnight ago.
In her first two matches against Brenda Fruhvirtova and then Linda Noskova, she did not drop a set and was looking for her ninth consecutive victory.
Sorribes Tormo will now play the winner of Beatriz Haddad Maia against Ekaterina Alexandrova in her first last-16 match at a Grand Slam.
- - -
Stream the French Open live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com
- -
Stream the 2023 French Open live on Eurosport and discovery+
Related Topics
Advertisement
Advertisement