Elena Rybakina likely to drop out of WTA Top 10 after shock Miami Open loss as rapid descent begins

Elena Rybakina has been a curious case all season and while the former Wimbledon champion hasn't been playing bad, she also hasn't been playing at the level that perhaps she has expected of herself. She could soon now be out of the top 10 after failing to back up her Miami Open run from last year.

Rybakina reached the final in the last two years and lost both times surprisingly to Petra Kvitova and Danielle Collins. But she didn't defend the points from last season so currently on the live rankings she will descend down at least to ninth.

This too with Emma Navarro and Paula Badosa circling. Albeit it is more likely the former who will take advantage. If both reach the fourth round, she leaves the top 10 entirely.

But what is more likely at least for the time being is that Navarro will likely send her down to tenth with Badosa circling for that other spot. Navarro faces Emma Raducanu for a spot in the third round on Friday, while Badosa takes on Victoria Mboko.

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Albeit Badosa has dealt recently with her crippling back injury returning so is an unknown coming into this tournament. Diana Shnaider winning the title too could also send Rybakina tumbling. She was semi helped by Daria Kasatkina losing out early though to Hailey Baptiste.

But either way with Stuttgart not on her list to defend either and the likes of even Karolina Muchova further down not massively playing clay last year, she is likely to be soon out of the top 10. It is a stark fall for a player who just a year ago was in the top three and battling Sabalenka and Swiatek for WTA supremacy.

Elena Rybakina won't defend her Porsche.

She took most of the end of last season off due to illness and injury and through the title success in Abu Dhabi and also Stuttgart came withdrawals and illness. She has also wrangled this season with the Stefano Vukov saga which has seen her preferred coach banned for a season under a WTA investigation.

Many remarked that during her loss to Krueger she looked like she was under the strain perhaps of this ongoing situation and it has now affected her tennis. Going into the post Billie Jean King Cup clay court season, Rybakina needs answers and quick to avoid a further slide.

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