BREAKING: Elena Rybakina makes worrying health admission after being left ‘unable to walk for days’
Elena Rybakina has admitted that her body is hurting after she played through the pain of an Achilles injury at the US Open. Rybakina defeated Aryna Sabalenka to win the women’s singles title in New York, marking her third Grand Slam title and her second of the year. She also climbed to the top of the WTA rankings earlier in the tournament, replacing Sabalenka as the world No 1.
However, it wasn’t all plain sailing for Rybakina, who recently revealed that she used painkillers to get through matches at the US Open. Prior to the tournament, she withdrew from the Cincinnati Open because of the injury but was able to manage it to an extent at Flushing Meadows. Now, however, her body is feeling the effects of playing through it.
Rybakina has announced that she will miss the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, where she was due to represent Kazakhstan.
She issued a statement confirming the news, which read: “Hello everyone, I have to announce that I won’t be able to participate in the Billie Jean King Cup this year. I am very sad to miss Shenzhen, such a nice place with an amazing crowd.
“Last month has been tough for my body and I will need to recover and be at my best to compete again. I wish the girls good luck.”
Rybakina previously said that she was left unable to walk for several days and went a week without picking up a racket in the build-up to the US Open.
Speaking in her pre-tournament press conference, she explained: “Overall, I’m pleased with how we have dealt with this issue. We’ve worked really hard and everything is fine at the moment.
“It’s a matter of adding some more training sessions to be fully ready for the first match. I didn’t play all week after my last match and had consultations with different doctors. I started my recovery and began to get back on the court gradually.
“In the meantime, a lot of gym work. It wasn’t easy because we didn’t know exactly how my foot would react. It was very painful for me to serve in that match in Cincinnati, although I wanted to try once more.
“For a couple of days, even walking was painful for me. We tried to do everything possible to make it better, and I’m happy with how the process is going.”
