Eyebrows have been raised after reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina’s Australian Open tilt will start out on court 13 at Melbourne Park on Monday.
The 23-year-old Kazakh defeated Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in the Wimbledon decider last July but earned no points from the event.
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Last season, Wimbledon banned Russian and Belarusian players from playing at the All-England Club over their nations’ involvement in the war in Ukraine. The ATP and WTA reacted by stripping the event of rankings points.
As Rybakina won the event, she would have earned 2000 points, meaning she would have been ranked eighth in the world if those points were added to her tally.
Intriguingly, Rybakina previously represented Russia but switched allegiances in 2018 for greater financial aid.
Instead, she is ranked 25th heading into the event and seeded 22 after some high profile absences from the Australian Open.
But ahead of her first round match on Monday, currently scheduled for 4.15pm, Rybakina will take on Italian 21-year-old Elisabetta Cocciaretto on Court 13 at Melbourne Park.
Cocciaretto is currently in good form, having made the final of the Hobart International.
Racquet Magazine senior editor Ben Rothenberg queried the thought process of putting a reigning grand slam champion on an outside court.
“Reigning Wimbledon champ Elena Rybakina got relegated all the way out to the hinterland of Court 13 for her first #AusOpen match,” he wrote.
“I understand there is a saturation of recent women’s Slam champs, to an extent, but has a reigning Wimbledon champ ever been so quickly disregarded?”
He wasn’t the only one perplexed by the move.
Tennis journalist Jose Morgado wrote: “Rybakina at the parking lot vs. Hobart finalist…”
He later added to Rothenberg’s post: “She got totally screwed by the pointless Wimbledon.
“Bad draws and small courts every week.”
American sports reporter Jacob Cersosimo commented: “I have no idea how this happens but this is WILD!”
The Sun’s assistant sports editor Sam Street joked: “You should see what the Australian Open did with the reigning Wimbledon men’s champion last year.”
Rybakina’s start to the season has been less than ideal, winning just one of three matches across two weeks at the Adelaide International — although that win was against World No. 11 and last year’s Australian Open runner up Danielle Collins.
And other than a final at the Slovenia Open, Rybakina has struggled, going 13-10 since her Wimbledon triumph.
She has also never made it out of the first week of the Australian Open, her best a third round finish in 2020.
