'Not so good' - Elena Rybakina's Australian Open campaign in jeopardy after injury scare during third round win

Back injury had forced Elena Rybakina to withdraw mid-way from 2024 US Open.

Elena Rybakina had a poor 2024, primarily due to a back injury which prevented her from participating at the Paris Olympics, and then ruled her out of the second round of the US Open. Hoping for a better start to the new season, the Kazakh fared well at the United Cup, carrying her country to the semi-finals of the competition almost single handedly.

Rybakina has been a finalist at the Australian Open and the hard pacy courts Down Under suit her style of play. Having slipped out of the top five rankings, the current sixth seed will want to make amends. The former Wimbledon champ started off exceedingly well in Melbourne, downing local hope Emerson Jones and Iva Jović comfortably in straight sets.

The 25-year-old then triumphed over 32nd seed, Dayana Yastremska in the third round. Despite the victory, the Kazakh seemed to often struggle with a back injury during the course of match. After the third game, the sixth seed called for a medical timeout.

The injury didn’t hamper her win, but the Kazakh was unable to move swiftly across the court and was aided by the Ukrainian’s inconsistency throughout the match. “I don’t know yet, of course, it’s not so good, since it’s lower back but hopefully we can do everything possible in this one and a half day – but for now it doesn’t seem too good to be honest.

“I will see my physio and hopefully he does some magic,” added Rybakina addressing the injury concerns. This injury comes at a wrong time as the Kazakh looked in serious touch, as she aims to break her drought and win a Grand Slam for the first time since 2022 Wimbledon.

“Honestly I didn’t know how it was going to go because it came all of a sudden,” Rybakina said on court. “I didn’t expect it and of course it was not easy, I knew that it would be very difficult for me to stay long in the rallies, I was trying to play aggressive and sometimes risk a little bit more – really happy that it went my way in the end”, said the sixth seed, who cruised past Yastremska in straight sets despite struggling with an injury.

Rybakina will now face Madison Keys in the round of 16 to secure a berth in the quarterfinals. However, the Kazakh needs to hope her body recovers in time, to allow her to play freely and express herself on court.

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