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Elena Rybakina’s (surprise) move confirmed, won’t defend Stuttgart title

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What has been expected has now been officially confirmed as Elena Rybakina’s name is not on Stuttgart’s entry list and the Kazakh won’t defend her title at the German WTA 500 clay tournament.

Last week, Kazakhtan’s Billie Jean King Cup confirmed that the 2022 Wimbledon winner would be representing them during the qualifiers week between April 10-12. That announcement left some members of the tennis community baffled since Kazakhstan is set to compete in Australia on hard courts while the Stuttgart event kicks off just two days later on April 14th.

However, many also assumed that Rybakina simply wasn’t planning on playing in Stuttgart so she wouldn’t make a quick change from hard to clay – but that didn’t change the fact that some were still surprised to see the world No. 8 preferring BJK Cup qualifiers over a traditionally very strong Stuttgart event which serves as good preparation for the WTA 1000 tournaments in Madrid and Rome.

And during this year’s tournament edition, the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix is expected to host eight top-10 players but the defending champion won’t be one of them.

It was a bit suspicious after Rybakina wasn’t one of the first names confirmed for Stuttgart

Last month, the Stuttgart organizers announced that Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek would return to the tournament this year. While the Kazakh’s name wasn’t on the list, some thought she would still play and be announced at a later date.

“Sabalenka, Swiatek and Paolini’s confirmations all show the importance of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix and are fantastically motivating for the whole team. We’re confident other top stars will sign up for the tournament,” Porsche Tennis Grand Prix tournament director Markus Gunthardt said in a statement in early February.

In the end, it didn’t happen.

Rybakina also started her clay seasons in Stuttgart in 2022 and 2023, picking up back-to-back round-of-16 losses.

​Tennis World USA

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