Elena Rybakina began 2026 with real momentum, and for a while she looked well placed to mount a serious challenge for the top of the WTA Rankings. She opened the season by winning the Australian Open, defeating Aryna Sabalenka in the final, then added the Sunshine Double and later the Stuttgart Open in April.

Those results drew her closer to Sabalenka at No 1 and created a clear path for her to overtake her rival. At the French Open, however, Rybakina missed that chance when she suffered a surprise second-round loss to Yuliia Starodubtseva.

Wimbledon offered another opening, especially after Sabalenka’s quarter-final exit in Paris had kept the race within reach. Yet Rybakina again fell short of expectations at a major, this time going out in the third round to Elise Mertens. That was enough to leave former world No 11 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova puzzled.

“I’m very disappointed that Rybakina loses relatively early in Slams, because she’s world No 2 and she has a real chance to become No 1 for the first time, the gap is small,” the Russian – who reached the quarter-final at Wimbledon in 2016 and 2025 – told Tennis Bolshe.

“Maybe that also puts pressure on her, because I think at Roland Garros all she needed was to win a couple of matches, and she couldn’t. Maybe clay isn’t her surface, but grass – that was strange.”

Rybakina’s route to No 1 is still open, but the margin remains tight. Sabalenka’s quarter-final defeat at the grass-court Grand Slam has left the pair separated by just 407 points heading into the North American swing. Sabalenka has 2215 points to defend over the next two months, including 2,000 at the US Open and quarter-final points from Cincinnati.

Rybakina, meanwhile, has 1,215 points to defend, though she will not add to that total at next week’s Washington Open, where she has chosen not to play. Later in the season, she also faces 1,500 points to defend at the WTA Finals after winning the event undefeated last year.

Mark Philippoussis has spoken warmly about Carlos Alcaraz, saying the sport is better with the Spaniard in it as the world No 3 continues to manage a complicated injury setback.

Spanish newspaper La Verdad reported last week that Alcaraz is aiming to return at the Cincinnati Open, which starts on 13 August. The report said his camp is concentrating on getting him to the tournament in the best possible shape and added: “The wrist is healthy, completely healed and they are gradually increasing the training load.”

Alcaraz has not played since picking up a right wrist injury in his opening-round win at the Barcelona Open more than three months ago. Since then, the seven-time Grand Slam champion has missed the clay-court Masters 1000 events in Madrid and Rome, along with the French Open and Wimbledon. He will also sit out the next Masters event on the schedule, the Canadian Open in Montreal, which begins on 1 August.

Speaking in an exclusive interview at Wimbledon, Philippoussis said he is hopeful the recovery is handled carefully and that Alcaraz can return without rushing the process.

“Look, I hope he comes back healthy. The tennis world needs him,” said the two-time Grand Slam finalist, who won 11 ATP Tour titles.

“I love watching him, he’s incredible for the game. A Grand Slam champion, he’s been No 1 in the world.

“And I just hope he can get healthy. Of course, he’s going to be someone that’s not going to rush the process.

“But also, when it’s to do with the wrist, it’s complicated. So, I’m sure he’s doing everything he can, and hopefully he can be back soon.”

Richard Krajicek also recently offered support for Alcaraz’s return, saying the former world No 4 should regain his full level once the injury settles.

Novak Djokovic has revisited the advice he once gave Jannik Sinner after a match, and with a grin acknowledged that he may have “made a mistake” by helping a rival who has since become a difficult opponent to solve.

The discussion comes after Sinner’s impressive 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Djokovic in the Wimbledon semi-finals earlier this month. That result strengthened the Italian’s edge in their rivalry, taking the head-to-head to 7-5 in Sinner’s favour. He has now won six of the last seven meetings, while Djokovic had taken four of their first five.

The pair first met in the quarter-finals of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, when Djokovic came through 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. That match later became the backdrop for a revealing conversation between Djokovic and Darren Cahill, who had joined Sinner’s coaching team shortly before Wimbledon in 2022.

Last year on Andy Roddick’s Served podcast, Cahill explained how Djokovic spoke candidly about the Italian’s game when approached for his thoughts. “I saw Novak, and he’s always great with this, he’s always been incredible when you tap him on the shoulder,” said Cahill. “And I said, ‘Hey listen, I’ve just started with Jannik, don’t tell me anything you don’t want to tell me, but can I ask what you were feeling out there?’ And he was incredible.

“He basically said, ‘Hey listen. Good luck with working with him. Hits the ball great, but there’s no variation. So you know, there’s no shape on his shot. There’s no height over the net. Doesn’t come to the net. He’s not trying to bring me in, I know that he returns well, but he’s not attacking my serve on the return of serve.’

“So, he went through his whole game and broke it down. It wasn’t like it was revelations to what we didn’t know about Jannik and what we were trying to change in his game.

“But when you take that conversation and sit down with a young man like Jannik Sinner and say, ‘Hey, listen, I just spoke to Novak and this is what he thinks’, that leaves a big impression on a young player. So for Jannik, it’s: ‘Right, give it to me. Let’s start doing these changes’.”

Djokovic returned to the topic last week at Fanatics Fest in New York, where he reflected on what he had told Sinner’s coach at Wimbledon. “I gave him all the spill of everything I noticed on the court: his weaknesses, his strengths, things he has to work on, and then, the next three years, he beats me at Wimbledon every freaking year! So, maybe I made a mistake, I don’t know (smiling),” said the 24-time Grand Slam champion.