This Monday, Elena Rybakina will wake up as the US Open champion and world No. 1 for the first time in her career. Many would wake up exhilarated or frantic. She, on the other hand, will wake up relieved.
“It’s going to be very different to wake up the next morning knowing that you won the US Open, achieved the No. 1 ranking, and it’s kind of a relief, because you do all the routines for the past two, three weeks. It’s a lot of work, a lot of nerves also. It’s going to be amazing to wake up knowing that you achieved such big things,” she said after beating Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.
The Belarusian had been the Kazakh’s main rival this year. Rybakina struck first by beating her in the Australian Open final, but lost ground with consecutive defeats in the Indian Wells final and the Miami Open semi-finals. She had also been behind Sabalenka in the world rankings since March.
In New York, all of that has been turned on its head. The 27-year-old has won the US Open for the first time in her career and reached world No. 1. Two goals that had pushed her to her limits.
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“Definitely I was nervous. You don’t sleep so well. You don’t eat that well. I feel like this tournament was just more stressful because I was playing for No. 1 in one of the matches, and then, of course, this injury which happened a week before. So every day was kind of a challenge,” said Rybakina, who on Monday will be more than 2,000 points clear of Sabalenka in the rankings.
With two Grand Slam titles to her name this year, along with the Wimbledon title she won in 2022, the Kazakh is now one title away from becoming the first player since Maria Sharapova in 2012 to complete the career Grand Slam. Roland Garros is the only one missing, having reached the quarter-finals there in 2021 and 2024.
Rybakina knows it, but she is not losing her head. “As I was saying before, I’m not getting younger, so the main priority is to try to keep myself healthy and definitely choose the calendar correctly, the training process. Of course, the goal is always the biggest tournaments, you want to win them, so just try to find the balance, try to be stable. We will see what’s going to happen, but definitely it’s still a lot of work to do. The job is never done, to be honest,” she said.
Now her first major challenge will be defending her title at the WTA Finals, where in 2025 she beat Sabalenka in the final.
“I don’t know what the future will bring, but it’s always very difficult matches against Aryna, and I feel like we push each other to be better after such tough battles. I feel like not only with her, but also with other players, top players. You always want to try something new, to change in your game, to be better. I don’t know what the future is going to bring, but I hope success and some more wins,” she said.
