Elena Rybakina says her focus is on trying to find ‘the right balance’ between her Tour commitments and staying healthy after winning her first US Open title.
Rybakina battled to a three-set win over Aryna Sabalenka at Flushing Meadows to claim the third Grand Slam title of her career. She also won the Australian Open title earlier this year, as well as Wimbledon in 2022. The latest triumph is in some ways unexpected for the Kazakh, who had never gone beyond the fourth round of the US Open until this year and came into the event with an injury concern.
“I feel like this tournament was kind of more stressful because I was playing for No. 1 in one of the matches, and then, of course, this injury happened,” Rybakina explained when comparing her latest Grand Slam win with the other two.
“So every day was kind of a challenge, but I felt like in these situations I was more calm than when similar things were happening before.”
Last month, Rybakina aggravated a foot injury whilst playing at the Cincinnati Open that left her unable to walk without pain for a couple of days. She had to undergo rehabilitation for a week and an MRI before the US Open.
As a result of her latest triumph, the 27-year-old now has a shot of completing a career slam next year at the French Open. She has only reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros twice, in 2021 and 2024. However, five of her 14 Tour-level titles have been won on the clay.
“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,” she stated.
“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.”
Rybakina will rise to No.1 in the rankings on Monday. A position she secured earlier at the US Open by reaching the semi-finals. It will be the first time a player representing Kazakhstan has reached the top spot. She was born and raised in Moscow, Russia, but switched nationalities in 2018 to get additional funding for her career.
In the coming days, there will be plenty of celebration for Rybakina, who stresses that her work as a tennis player is never over.
“I have a great team, great people around me, and we just continue the work. It finally paid off, and I’m super happy, very proud,” she said.
“It’s never easy. Even now, I finish here, I rest, I celebrate, and then still the tournaments are coming up. You still need to play. You still need to compete with the same players, and you still need to do your best.
“It’s an amazing journey, and hopefully I can continue to stay at the top as long as possible.”
