Tennis fans left perplexed at Elena Rybakina's decision to compete at the Billie Jean King Cup in lieu of Stuttgart Open- "Why is she playing this?"

There has been some confusion among tennis fans over the recent inclusion of World No.7 Elena Rybakina in Team Kazakhstan's Billie Jean King Cup roster, despite the Stuttgart Open taking place a few days later.

Rybakina is the defending champion at Stuttgart, having defeated Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk in last year's final. However, it appears the former Wimbledon champion will be traveling with her team to Brisbane, Australia for the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers in April, as she is not on the entry list for the WTA 500 event in Stuttgart.

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Fans question Rybakina's decision

Once the news broke out, several tennis fans voiced their concern at the former World No.3 apparently opting to represent Kazakhstan at the Billie Jean King Cup, as opposed to defending her ranking points from Stuttgart.

"OHH— that’s a crazy scheduling especially considering that she’s a defending champion in Stuttgart which starts on April 14th," wrote a fan on social media.

"Why is she playing this? Doesn't she have other important tournaments to play singles? Has she just written those off or does she feel obligated to play for country? Maybe she enjoys these team-based tournaments more at this point?" asked another fan.

"So she's not defending her Stuttgart title tf?? Gurl we really boutta take a free fall down the rankings atp," stated another fan.

"Will she not play Stuttgart... that's an automatic 500 points gone from last year and will prob drop her from the top 10," remarked another concerned fan.

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