Elena Rybakina said, “I didn’t feel that I am a top player,” in response to her victory at Wimbledon 2022, earning her no ranking points
Elena Rybakina recently opened up about her feelings about her lack of ranking points from her Wimbledon Championship title triumph in 2022.
In the SW19 title match, Rybakina defeated Ons Jabeur 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to become Kazakhstan’s first Grand Slam singles winner. In addition, the 23-year-old broke the record for the youngest woman to win the Venus Rosewater Dish since Petra Kvitova did it in 2011.
Nevertheless, despite her historic triumph, the Kazakh did not gain any ranking points. The All England Club prohibited Russian and Belarusian athletes from partaking in the event due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; hence, the issues were taken away before the competition.
Elena Rybakina recently shared her experience of overcoming a challenging phase in her podcast interview, Mind Set Win. She talked about how she didn’t feel like a “top player” in major tournaments and even plummeted to 25th place in the world since her points weren’t being awarded.
“It was not easy to overcome this win because, of course, after winning the title, you are like, ‘Wow, I hope it was not just by mistake, or by luck or whatever it is.’ In my case, it was a bit different that I didn’t get the point, so on the rest of the tournaments and another big Grand Slam, I didn’t feel that I was a top player,” Rybakina said.
“It’s a lot of expectations from you, and a lot of people are looking at you and wondering what you are going to do next in your next tournament. But at the same time, you are not treated as a top player because you didn’t get the points. So I would say that this period was not an easy one for sure,” she added.
In 2023, Elena Rybakina won two WTA 1000 championships
In 2023, Elena Rybakina took home two WTA 1000 titles: one from the Italian Open and one from Indian Wells.
In the Indian Wells final, Rybakina defeated Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(11), 6-4, to win the inaugural Sunshine Double event. The match was a rematch of the Belarusian’s 2023 Australian Open victory over the Kazakh, in which Rybakina prevailed.
The World No. 5 then prevailed at the Italian Open, her second WTA 1000 victory of 2023, forcing her Ukrainian opponent Anhelina Kalinina to quit with a 4-6, 0-1 loss due to a suspected left leg injury.
Elena Rybakina became the first athlete from Kazakhstan and the third player overall to qualify for the WTA Finals, which will take place in Cancun, Mexico, from October 29 to November 5, thanks to her exploits during the 2023 season.
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