French Open title favourite Elena Rybakina withdraws minutes before match

Elena Rybakina sent shockwaves through the French Open when she pulled out minutes before her third-round match against Sara Sorribes Tormo. The fourth seed was one of the favourites to lift the title at Roland Garros but announced her withdrawal at the 11th hour, later revealing that she was suffering with sickness and a fever.

Rybakina was set to open play on Court Philippe-Chatrier at 11.45am local time (10.45am BST) as she faced Sorribes Tormo for a spot in the second week. The Kazakh arrived on site earlier in the morning to get some practice in and was seen having a hit before her match.

But she suddenly announced her withdrawal as she was set to take to the court and later confirmed that she was unwell. “I was not feeling good already yesterday and the day before, so I didn’t sleep two nights and had some fever,” the Wimbledon champion said in an emergency press conference.

“Today I really tried on the warmup, but I feel that the right decision is to withdraw, because it’s really tough to play with these conditions.” The world No 4 was on an eight-match winning streak after winning the Italian Open ahead of Roland Garros.

In the last 12 months, Rybakina has also lifted titles at Wimbledon and in Indian Wells, while she reached the final of the Australian Open. Along with defending champion Iga Swiatek and second seed Aryna Sabalenka, the 23-year-old was one of the heavy favourites to lift the trophy in Paris.

The fourth seed revealed that she started feeling unwell following her second-round win over Linda Noskova and had been diagnosed with a virus. “Yeah, well, I saw the doctor, and they said that actually it’s all a virus here in Paris. Yeah, I guess with my allergy, immune system just went down and I picked up something,” she explained.

“As I said, I was not sleeping well two days. I had fever, headache. I mean, I think you can hear also. So, yeah, it’s difficult to perform and obviously to run and even breathe. So I think that was the only right decision I could make.”

She will now focus on trying to recover ahead of the grass season, where she will enter Wimbledon as the reigning champion. Rybakina added: “I think I just need few days for sure rest and see how it’s gonna be. For now focus for sure to get better.

“But the plan was to play Berlin, Eastbourne, and Wimbledon. There is not many tournaments on grass, but most important to get healthy again. Yeah, that was the plan.”

The French Open was unable to reschedule another match in Rybakina’s slot on the main show court, meaning day session ticketholders will only see two matches. Holger Rune will face Genaro Alberto Olivieri at 1pm local time (12pm BST) followed by Iga Swiatek.