Elena Rybakina withdraws from Paris Olympics

World number 3 ranked Kazakhstan tennis ace Elena Rybakina has withdrawn her name from the highly-anticipated Paris Olympics 2024, despite being named in the initial draw released on July 25. After being drawn against Romania's Jaqueline Cristian for her first clash in the Games, Rybakina took her name out of both singles and doubles tennis event at the Paris Olympics. The reasons behind the sudden bowing out of the 2022 Wimeblodon winner is still unknown.

Apart from representing Kazakhstan as one of the side's most promising candidates for a medal in Paris individually, Rybakina was named as the mixed-doubles partner of Alexander Bublik at the tournament. There had already been increased speculation around Rybakina's participation in the Paris Games due to her notable absence from the Olympics village over the last coupe of days. Many had predicted the 25-year-old



to best her performance from the Tokyo Olympics 2020, where she missed out on a medal after finishingh fourth behind Elina Svitolina.

In her build-up to the Paris Olympics 2024, Rybakina showcased a set of impressive performances which ended with her getting knocked out from only the quarter-final stage of Roland Garros by jasmine Paolini, followed by a semi-final exit at the WImbledon 2024 by Barbora Krejcikova. There are increased reports of Rybakina pulling out of this Olympics due to an illness, but we are yet to recieve any confirmation from the player herself.

With Rybakina withdrawing her name, Caroline Garcia has been called up as her replacement in her seeded spot, which will see her avoid a round 1 clash against Qinwen Zheng. Meanwhile, Australia Daria Saville will be the one facing Zheng in a R1 clash at the Paris Olympics.