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on september 22, last year's semi-finalist and world no. 4 rybakina announced her withdrawal from the 2024 china open due to a back injury.

previously, the world's number one women's singles player swiatek announced that she would withdraw from the wta1000 china open, which will open on september 25, due to "personal reasons."

as of now, the female players who have announced their withdrawal from the china open include: sakkari (ranked no.9, due to shoulder injury), collins (ranked no.10, due to illness), azarenka (ranked no.19, former champion), jabeur (ranked no.22, due to injury), noskova (ranked no.27), svitolina (ranked no.28, due to injury), garcia (ranked no.29, former champion), pozkova (ranked no.41), pliskova (ranked no.42), wozniacki (ranked no.72, former champion), and more than a dozen other players.

china open's official weibo account announced swiatek's withdrawal from the tournament

swiatek was the women's singles champion of the china open last year and is also considered the top favorite to win the title this year. since last year, swiatek has played very stably in the wta1000 events. she only lost twice before the semi-finals of the wta1000 events and won 5 championships.

it is worth noting that swiatek's withdrawal from the china open was due to "personal reasons", which is hard to understand. during the us open last month, swiatek criticized the wta tour's long calendar, calling it "exhausting" and advocated relaxing the mandatory requirements for players to participate.

china open is a wta 1000-level event, formerly one of the four wta crown jewels, second only to the four grand slams and the year-end finals. this year is the first time that the china open women's event has been upgraded to 96 draws. all qualified players are required to participate, and there must be a legitimate reason for withdrawal (such as injury or illness).

china open official weibo released the wildcard list for this year's women's tournament

judging from a comprehensive perspective, swiatek's withdrawal from the china open this time is most likely to allow her body and mind to get sufficient rest.

the problem is that swiatek has rested long enough since the us open. on september 5, swiatek lost to pegula in the us open quarter-finals and has been resting. assuming she participates in the wuhan open, which starts on october 7, she will rest for 1 month and 2 days, and resting for such a long time is very rare for swiatek. her last longest rest time was from the start of the 2023 indian wells (eliminated on march 18) and stuttgart (april 20).

swiatek's sudden withdrawal has attracted widespread attention. polish media called it a "sensational decision" and commented that the news was a "bolt from the blue". the report also said that swiatek had previously withdrawn from the wta 500-level event being held in seoul, south korea, and that withdrawing from the seoul event was "excusable" because the event was held not long after the us open and the level of the event was relatively low. swiatek did not go to seoul to compete last year and she had no points to protect in seoul this year.

zheng qinwen arrives in beijing to prepare for china open

the china open in beijing is of great significance to swiatek. she was the champion last year and will lose 1,000 points if she withdraws from the tournament this year. before announcing her withdrawal from the china open, the wuhan open had already announced the entry list and swiatek appeared in the promotional poster for the wuhan open. after withdrawing from the china open, swiatek is very likely to withdraw from the upcoming wta 1000 wuhan open and may even withdraw from all events before the year-end finals.

after deducting the 1,000 points from the china open, swiatek's total will be 9,885 points. after deducting the 215 points from last year's china open quarterfinals, sabalenka's total will be 8,501 points, 1,384 points less than swiatek.

after withdrawing from this year's china open, swiatek is expected to not participate in any tour before the year-end finals like last year, so her points before the year-end finals will be fixed at 9885 points.

sabalenka arrived in beijing in the early morning of september 22 to prepare for the china open

similarly, sabalenka did not participate in any events from the china open to the year-end finals last year, but she may choose to participate in one or two of the next three events, including wta1000 wuhan, wta500 ningbo, and wta500 tokyo. if she can earn 1,400 points, she will replace swiatek's world no. 1 position and become the world no. 1 at the end of this year.

however, it will not be easy for sabalenka to earn 1,400 points. the champion and runner-up of the china open will get 1,000 points and 650 points, the champion and runner-up of the wuhan open will get 900 points and 585 points, and the champion and runner-up of the ningbo open and tokyo open will get 470 points and 305 points respectively. sabalenka appeared in the promotional poster of the wuhan open, but not in the promotional poster of the ningbo open. the list of participants for the tokyo open has not yet been announced.

therefore, if sabalenka wants to replace swiatek as the world's number one before the year-end finals, she must win at least one championship and one runner-up in the china open and wuhan open, and completing this task is not easy.

in the early morning of september 19, naomi osaka (center) and her coach mouratoglou (left) and other team members arrived in beijing to prepare for the china open.

so, it is theoretically possible for sabalenka to become the world's number one before the year-end finals, but it is more difficult in reality. i am cautiously optimistic that swiatek will continue to hold the world's number one position. (author: yunjuanyunshu)