Elena Rybakina Withdraws From WTA Finals, Kostyuk Steps In

The WTA Finals has lost its biggest name before a ball has been struck.

World No. 1 and defending champion Elena Rybakina has pulled out of the 2026 FAGE WTA Finals in Indian Wells, citing a medical issue, stripping the year-end showpiece of its headline act and reshaping Group 1 on the eve of the tournament.

Marta Kostyuk steps into the gap. She takes Rybakina’s place in Group 1 and will open the tournament on Sunday against Linda Noskova, with Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula waiting in the round-robin schedule. It is a sudden promotion and a brutal reminder of how quickly opportunity can appear at this level.

“I am really sad to inform all my fans and supporters that I unfortunately have to withdraw from the WTA Finals this year,” she said. “I’ve had an incredible season but my body is just not physically ready to compete. I’m going to spend some time resting and recovering at home and getting myself ready for the 2027 season. The WTA Finals is a very special tournament and I wish everyone the best of luck this week. Can’t wait to be back in Indian Wells in March!”

For the tournament, it is a major blow. For Rybakina, it is a hard but calculated stop sign at the end of a relentless campaign.

Twelve months ago, she arrived at the Finals in Riyadh as the last singles qualifier and walked out unbeaten, champion at the year-end event for the first time. This year told a different story: she was the first singles player to qualify, her status transformed by a commanding season capped by a third Grand Slam title at the US Open, where she also climbed to the No. 1 ranking.

The numbers behind that rise are uncompromising. Rybakina closes her 2026 campaign on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz with a 54-14 match record and four trophies: Australian Open, Stuttgart, US Open and Ningbo. That output, across surfaces and continents, underpins the year-end No. 1 singles ranking presented by PIF, which she had already secured while competing in Tokyo.

So the Finals will go on without its reigning champion, but not without her imprint. The field has lost its benchmark, the player everyone wanted to measure themselves against this week. In her place stands Kostyuk, suddenly thrust into a group loaded with American firepower and a rising Noskova, all sensing that the draw has cracked open.

Rybakina, meanwhile, steps away with the one thing the rankings cannot show: the knowledge that she dominated a season so completely that even in absence, she finishes on top. The next question belongs to everyone left in Indian Wells: who is ready to seize the space she’s just left behind?