Kontaveit projected to slide out of top 50 after pulling out of Doha & Dubai

The Estonian will drop a 1,000 ranking points after her early loss this week and her withdrawal from Doha and Dubai

Anett Kontaveit of Estonia has her back treated during a break at the WTA Agel Open 2022 in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Image Credit: CTK Photobank / Panoramic

Haresh Ramchandani

February 9, 2023

At the start of the 2022 US Open, Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit was ranked No 2 in the world. Since then, the 27-year-old has had a rough time defending the points she racked up in the second half of 2021 and early part of 2022.

Kontaveit, ranked No 18 in the world currently, was forced to retire due to a lower back injury during her second round match in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, taking her record from the start of the US Open to this week to 7-7 – with four of those wins coming in her hometown event in Tallinn and one in Abu Dhabi, over China’s Shuai Zhang.

The injury that forced Kontaveit to pull out on Wednesday has now also forced her to withdraw from the next two WTA events in the following weeks – Doha and Dubai – which means she will freefall outside the top 50 in the world rankings.

Kontaveit was defending 470 points this week for winning the St. Petersburg title last year. She is also defending 585 points next week for reaching the final in Dubai last year. The Estonian picked up 55 points for reaching the second round this week – which means she has a total of 1,000 ranking points dropping off her tally by the end of Doha next week.

With her current tally of 1909 points, Kontaveit will hold 909 points on February 20. That would have placed her at No 63 in this week’s rankings (she could be ranked a bit higher or lower based on results of other players).

Kontaveit’s fall has been just as quick as her rise to the world No 2 spot. But hopefully, this is an aberration, and the Estonian will soon be back to her best.