"The ego is crazy," "Is this a protest?" - Elena Rybakina pulling out of Japan Open after controversy over Performance Byes leaves tennis fans shocked

Elena Rybakina's withdrawal ahead of her first-round match against Linda Noskova at this week's WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo has not been received kindly by the tennis community.

The Kazakh pulled out of the 2023 Toray Pan Pacific Open on Sunday (September 24), telling the organizers that she needed to "prioritize her health and fitness."

"I'm really sorry to have to withdraw from Tokyo this year. I was really looking forward to playing the event and I love the city. I have to prioritise my health and fitness and need time to get to 100 per cent health," Elena Rybakina's statement read.

The decision came a few days after Rybakina took umbrage at the WTA for introducing the concept of performance byes in the singles draw. She was seeded third at the 500-level event, but was overlooked by the organizers for a first-round bye.

Maria Sakkari and Caroline Garcia received "performance" byes instead, owing to their good showing at the recently concluded 1000-level event in Guadalajara. Elena Rybakina was seemingly miffed with this, and she put the women's governing body on blast in her Instagram story on Saturday (September 23).

Now that the 24-year-old has withdrawn from this week's Tokyo tournament, the tennis community on social media are claiming that something is amiss. One fan attributed Elena Rybakina's decision to withdraw from the event to her "ego" being hurt.

"Naah the ego is crazy.. it’s just one extra match," they wrote.

Another fan, meanwhile, questioned whether the World No. 5 had pulled out of the tournament "in protest" of the WTA not offering her a bye in the singles draw.

"Is this a protest," the fan wondered.

Here are a few more reactions from the tennis community:

Elena Rybakina has had several fitness issues this season

Although Elena Rybakina has recorded a strong 42-12 win-loss record over 16 tournaments this season, she has often struggled with her fitness.

Rybakina has withdrawn from a tournament on two occasions in 2023. She first pulled out of the 2023 Dubai Tennis Championships, just ahead of her last-eight clash with Coco Gauff, citing a lower back injury. The Kazakh was then forced to pull out of the French Open ahead of her third-round match against Sara Sorribes Tormo due to a viral illness.

The World No. 5 has also retired mid-way through a couple of her matches this year.

In April, she retired during her second-round match in Stuttgart while trailing Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia 1-6, 1-3, due to an undisclosed injury. She then retired mid-way through her Cincinnati Open campaign last month, while leading Jasmine Paolini by a set in their Round-of-16 meeting.

Coincidentally, the Kazakh had condemned the WTA's poor scheduling of her matches just before she played the Cincinnati match.

The 24-year-old said she felt "destroyed" after her semifinal loss to Liudmila Samsonova at the 2023 Canadian Open. She had a 3 a.m. finish in her previous match against Daria Kasatkina.

"I feel destroyed because of the scheduling and the whole situation. I'm not really happy about it, but it is what it is. Unfortunately, players can't do much in these situations. The decision isn't really ours... So I picked up some injuries, but we tried to manage it and see how we'll go from that," she said in August.