“It’s so wrong”- Elena Rybakina’s castigation at Australian Open has Wimbledon mocked
The Kazakh player would have been placed higher in Australian Open if Wimbledon points were included.
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Elena Rybakina (Image: WTA)
Kazakhstani professional tennis player Elena Rybakina stunned everyone last year when she claimed the Wimbledon Championship, her first Grand Slam title. The current World No. 22 is starting her campaign in the Australian Open against Elisabetta Cocciaretto. But other than the performance, it is the disregard shown by the tournament toward her that has become bigger news.
The 23-year-old Rybakina has been relegated to Court 13 for her Australian Open first-round clash. Noted tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg believes this reflects disrespect for the reigning world champion, as she deserved one of the main courts. Fans on social media were quick to back up the journalist’s claim.
“Reigning Wimbledon champ Elena Rybakina got relegated all the way out to the hinterland of Court 13 for her first AusOpen match. I understand there is a saturation of recent women’s Slam champs, to an extent, but has a reigning Wimbledon champ ever so quickly disregarded?”, Rothenberg wrote on Twitter.
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Fans blast Wimbledon as the reason behind the low ranking of Elena Rybakina
Elena Rybakina is currently placed in the 22nd position in the rankings. Despite winning the title at Wimbledon, she did not receive any points from the tournament because of the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes because of Russia’s Ukraine invasion. Rybakina is currently a Kazakhstani citizen, but her birth in Russia and previous international representation of Russia caused her to lose precious points.
Fans on social media decried the erroneous decision of Wimbledon not to give any ranking points to the Kazakh player. Had those points counted, Rybakina would have been one of the top eight seeds at the Australian Open. Relegating her to Court 13 further disregards her Rothenberg as well as what the fans believe.
“Agreed. So disrespectful,” one of the fans wrote in support of Rybakina. “Wimbledon owes her 2000 points,” wrote another. Here are some other interesting tweets.
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Abhinavendu Singh
(290 Articles Published)