By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, September 18, 2026
Photo credit: Australian Open Facebook
Elena Rybakina scored a career-changing triumph in New York.
The US Open champion won’t be making the trip to Shenzhen.
New world No. 1 Rybakina has officially withdrawn from the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Shenzhen due to “medical reasons.”
The three-time Grand Slam champion suffered an Achillies injury at last month’s Cincinnati Open and may well need recovery time after knocking off former US Open champion Coco Gauff and reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka in succession to capture the Flushing Meadows major.
Get well soon, Elena 🩵#BJKCup pic.twitter.com/zQow1Rpnzl
— Billie Jean King Cup (@BJKCup) September 18, 2026
The Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre Arena in Shenzhen, China will host the largest annual international team event in women’s sport for the second successive year.
This six-day Billie Jean King Cup Finals will be played between September 22-27th, 2026.
Two-time reigning Billie Jean King Cup champion Italy, Belgium, China, Czechia, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Spain and Ukraine are the eight nations to reach the Finals.
The US Open women’s final was extremely exciting.. Anya seems to set a bad example when she loses.. When playing any sport you must be a good loser & a
great winner.. It seems she hasn’t learned that yet.. I am sure she is rolling in
greens… I have seen her break other rackets after losing a match.. I think she
should get fined especially when she does it on the court..
Concentrate on her tennis – human beings are not perfect- are you? Getting mad at losing is not a big deal. Who is happy when losing? Top athletes train to be the best!
I am not biased, just fair since Sabalenka is not one of my favorite.
In no other sport athletes destroy their equipment like in tennis when losing. It’s stupid.
Good for her to rest her body. Health first. She already beat anll they asses while she was hurt. Imagine if she was 100%. Matches would have been over in a hour 😆. Why jeopardize. She can get ready for next season.
Sabalenka has to meet those two imposters just the same ,it is not easy to lose,but it’s part of the game she plays only one can win,if you gave it your best ,be proud, and there will be more to come,and to Rybakina you need to rest and get better, next year will come and you can try and play