Injury Scare After Cincinnati Retirement
Elena Rybakina arrived in New York carrying more than just title ambitions. The second seed was forced to retire from her Cincinnati Open quarter-final against Iga Swiatek after just five games, hobbling off with a leg injury that initially raised fears of an Achilles problem. Rybakina herself admitted she could not push off during her serve and that walking was painful. Thankfully, subsequent MRI results eased the worst concerns, and the 27-year-old has since traveled to Flushing Meadows with cautious optimism.
Speaking to The Mirror, Rybakina confirmed she had not yet set foot on court to practice and was absent from the Wednesday session schedule. Still, her tone was positive: she described her recovery as going well, noted she had roughly ten days to prepare before her first match, and stressed the importance of not rushing back. She also withdrew from the mixed doubles event, where she had been scheduled to partner Taylor Fritz, keeping her full focus on the singles draw.
Rankings Title Also On the Line
The stakes extend well beyond the US Open trophy. Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka is set to shed 2,000 ranking points from her title run last year, which opens the door for Rybakina to claim the world number one ranking for the first time. Remarkably, she only needs to reach the semi-final to overtake Sabalenka at the top of the WTA standings. Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff are also lurking in the rankings battle, making the draw exceptionally tense from the opening round.
With the singles main draw beginning on August 30, Rybakina still has a narrow window to prepare. TennisDraw users will be watching her fitness updates closely before locking in their bracket picks for the bottom half of the draw.
