Tennis News: Elena Rybakina and Andre Agassi

Elena Rybakina has had an odd year so far. She currently leads the WTA tour in wins in 2024 but she has only won one title. She has played in more tournaments than many other players and is good enough to defeat most players which explains the number of wins. But that she isn't winning at a high level can be concerning.

She also is now seemingly firmly the No. 4 ranked player and did not appear able to catch up to No. 3 Coco Gauff very quickly, but after Rybakina was forced to withdraw from the first Masters 1000 of the season, Indian Wells, due to an illness, Rybakina is extremely unlikely to move back to No. 3 any time soon. The issue is that she won Indian Wells in 2023 and was a finalist at the Miami Open as well.

The Kazakhstani is dropping too many points to regain a top-three ranking. She will unfortunately lose nearly 1,000 points by not participating at Indian Wells. At the beginning of the Miami Open, which starts later in March, Rybakina will lose another 650 points. Meanwhile, Gauff only has 65 points to defend in Miami.

Elena Rybakina has a lose-lose situation and Andre Agassi drops truth about Carlos Alcaraz

The fact is that while Rybakina is a very good player, her early 2023 success is costing her dearly. Gauff will likely be more than 1,000 points ahead of Rybakina by the end of Miami and Rybakina could be closer to No. 5 than No. 3.

Speaking of rankings, Carlos Alcaraz is still ranked No. 2 on the ATP tour but in the live rankings, he has fallen to No. 3. Jannik Sinner could move up to No. 2 and Sinner seems unbeatable currently. In fact, while Sinner seems ascending, Alcaraz is certainly not having the same kind of late-tournament success he has known for the last two years.

Tennis great Andre Agassi thinks he knows Alcaraz's issue as well. The problem is that when Alcaraz isn't being forced to run around, he doesn't seem to be so sure of himself. Tennis fans have all seen the incredible shots Alcaraz can pull off and many of them do seem to be while he is on the run.

Agassi said in a recent interview with Tennis Majors about Alcaraz, "I really like his game in movement, when he's in the air, the dynamics and his ability to use geometry and the rhythm he can impart. Sometimes I'm a little worried about him when he's static. When his feet don't have to move that much, sometimes he doesn't know where to direct the energy and sets up a little too early, he doesn't have the same conviction in his shots when he can have control of the point." Well said.

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