Elena Rybakina

Elena Rybakina was born on 17 June 1999 in Moscow to Andrey Rybakin and Ekaterina. She started playing sports with her older sister, Anna, from a very young age, originally focusing on gymnastics and ice skating. Upon being told that she was too tall to become a professional in either of those sports, her father suggested she switch to tennis instead because of his interest in the sport. Rybakina began playing tennis at the age of six. Rybakina did not have individual training until she was a junior, instead practicing in a group of about eight players up until age 15 and a group of four players through age 18. She also only played tennis about two hours per day and trained in fitness for three hours a day. Her time for tennis was limited in part because she attended a regular high school not specialized for athletes and needed to balance tennis with schoolwork. ==Juniors==

at the 2017 ITF Junior Masters Rybakina is a former world No. 3 junior. She began playing on the ITF Junior Circuit in November 2013 at the age of 14. The following March, she won her first title at her second career event, the Grade-3 Almetievsk Cup. She played her first Grade-2 event in June at the Ozerov Cup in Moscow, finishing runner-up to compatriot Anna Blinkova. She began playing Grade-1 events from the start of 2015, but did not have any success until she reached the final at the Belgian International Junior Championships in May, losing to Katharina Hobgarski. Rybakina made her junior-major debut later in the year at the US Open, where she reached the third round. Following an opening-round loss at the 2016 Australian Open, she won back-to-back Grade-1 titles. She continued to struggle at the junior Grand Slam and other Grade-A events in singles for the rest of the year. Her best result of 2016 at the Grade A-events came in doubles when she finished runner-up to Olesya Pervushina and Anastasia Potapova at the Trofeo Bonfiglio, alongside Amina Anshba in an all-Russian final. The 2017 season was Rybakina's last year on the junior tour. In the middle of the season, she won her first and only Grade-A title at the Trofeo Bonfiglio, defeating Iga Świątek in the final. She also fared better at the Grand Slam events compared to previous years, losing in the semifinals of the Australian Open and the French Open to eventual champions Marta Kostyuk and Whitney Osuigwe, respectively. She finished her junior career at the first round-robin edition of the ITF Junior Masters, the junior counterpart to the WTA Finals. She won one match in her round-robin group and finished in seventh place. ==Professional career==

2014–18: First ITF titles, federation change Rybakina began playing on the ITF Women's Circuit in December 2014, at the age of fifteen. While she was still playing on the junior circuit, she reached three ITF finals in singles and two in doubles, winning both of the doubles finals only in 2017. At her next WTA tournament in February 2018, Rybakina won her first WTA Tour match at the St. Petersburg Trophy against Timea Bacsinszky. She then upset world No. 7 Caroline Garcia in three sets, after saving a match point in the second set. Losing in the next round, this quarterfinal appearance helped her rise from No. 450 to No. 268 in the world. In March, Rybakina won her first ITF singles title at a $15k event in Kazan, where she also won the doubles title. Her next significant rankings jump came in April when she finished runner-up to Sabina Sharipova at the $60k Lale Cup in Istanbul, bringing her to No. 215. She broke into the top 200 for the first time in late May. Playing for Kazakhstan, Rybakina entered her first Grand Slam qualifying draw at the 2018 US Open, but did not reach the main draw. 2019: First tour title and top 50 After playing mostly ITF events in the first half of 2019, Rybakina began playing primarily on the WTA Tour in the second half of the season. During the first few months of the year, she won three ITF titles, including the $60k Launceston International. She made her Grand Slam debut at the French Open as a qualifier, losing to Kateřina Siniaková. In her first WTA event on grass, Rybakina made her first tour semifinal at the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships. Despite this success, she lost in qualifying at Wimbledon. Rybakina's breakthrough came in July when she won her maiden WTA Tour title at the Bucharest Open, a month after turning 20 years old. During the event, she upset second seed Viktória Kužmová before defeating Patricia Maria Țig in the final. With this title, she made her top 100 debut in the WTA rankings at No. 65. This result brought her into the top 50 for the first time. Rybakina finished the season at No. 37 in the world. She reached the finals at four of her first five events. Before the COVID-19 pandemic led to the shutdown of the WTA Tour for more than five months, she had reached the final of every tournament except for the Australian Open and the Qatar Ladies Open, losing to world No. 1, Ashleigh Barty, in both instances, the latter in a walkover due to an abductor strain in her leg. Prior to the Australian Open, her two finals came at International events. After losing her first final of the year to Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Shenzhen Open, she defeated Zhang Shuai to win her second WTA title at the Hobart International. At Melbourne, she recorded her first two Grand Slam main-draw match wins against Bernarda Pera and Greet Minnen. Following the tournament, she reached two Premier finals at the St. Petersburg Trophy and the Dubai Championships, finishing runner-up to No. 8 Kiki Bertens and No. 2 Simona Halep, respectively. At Dubai in particular, Rybakina defeated two top-ten players in No. 7 Sofia Kenin and No. 3 Karolína Plíšková, the latter of which was the highest ranked player she had defeated to date. These four finals helped her climb to No. 17 in the world at the time of the tour shutdown. During the bulk of the shutdown, Rybakina stayed in Moscow and did not have the opportunity to practice for two and a half months. She eventually resumed training in Bratislava, Slovakia for five weeks. When the tour resumed in New York in August, she lost her return match to Alexandrova and then only recorded one match win at the US Open. Back in Europe, she finally defeated Alexandrova at the Italian Open in her third opportunity of the year before squandering a chance to serve out the match in a third-round loss to Yulia Putintseva. At the Internationaux de Strasbourg, Rybakina reached her fifth final of the year and first since the resumption of the tour, losing in the final to No. 5, Elina Svitolina. She did not carry this success to the next major, losing to Fiona Ferro in the second round at the French Open. 2021: French Open quarterfinals She reached the quarterfinals of the French Open without dropping a set when she defeated Serena Williams in the fourth round. At the same tournament, she also reached the quarterfinals in doubles, partnering Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova; incidentally, Pavlyuchenkova was the opponent who defeated her in the quarterfinals of the singles portion of the 2021 French Open. Rybakina was the 15th seed of the Olympic Games tennis tournament, winning her first three matches without losing a set before a semifinals defeat to Belinda Bencic. In the bronze medal match, Rybakina was defeated in a comeback by Elina Svitolina. On 1 November 2021, she made her debut in the top 15, at world No. 14, becoming the highest ranked Kazakhstani player in history. 2022: Wimbledon champion Rybakina started her 2022 season at the Adelaide International 1, making it to the final where she was defeated by world No. 1, Ash Barty. Her success continued at the Sydney Tennis Classic with a lopsided first-round defeat of reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu, before she subsequently withdrew from the tournament citing a thigh injury. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 12 on 17 January 2022. Her remaining early hardcourt season saw little progress with a second-round retirement at the Australian Open, a walkover at the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, and a first-round loss at the Qatar Ladies Open. Her "Sunshine Double" (Miami and Indian Wells) saw improvement with a quarterfinal appearance at the Indian Wells Open against Maria Sakkari and a third-round appearance to Jessica Pegula at the Miami Open. Her clay-court season began with a second-round loss to Anhelina Kalinina after a first-round bye at Charleston. Following this, she represented Kazakhstan as the team's top seed and won both of her singles matches in a tie against Germany securing a berth in the finals later in the year. The remainder of her clay-court season saw little achievement as she failed to advance into the quarterfinals at the Stuttgart Open, Madrid Open, Italian Open, and French Open. at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships Rybakina's grass-court season in the lead up to Wimbledon saw a second-round loss to Shelby Rogers at the Rosmalen Open followed by a first-round bye and a second-round loss to Lesia Tsurenko at the Eastbourne International. At the Wimbledon Championships, she reached her second Grand Slam quarterfinal, defeating CoCo Vandeweghe, Bianca Andreescu, Zheng Qinwen and Petra Martić. She then defeated Ajla Tomljanović in her quarterfinal match to reach her first major semifinal, becoming the first Kazakhstani singles player (male or female) to reach the semifinal of a Grand Slam. She then defeated Simona Halep in straight sets, to reach her first major final, becoming the youngest Wimbledon finalist since Garbiñe Muguruza in 2015. After dropping the first set, she defeated No. 3 seeded Ons Jabeur in three sets to secure her first major title. She became the youngest women's champion since 21-year-old Petra Kvitová in 2011. She was also the fourth-youngest active Grand Slam champion, older only than Iga Świątek, Bianca Andreescu and Emma Raducanu. Rybakina's Russian nationality and previous international representation of Russia became a matter of public discourse in the aftermath of her success at Wimbledon 2022, where Wimbledon had banned athletes representing Russia and Belarus due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russian state media celebrated Rybakina's win as a national victory despite her longstanding decision not to represent the country of her birth. The North American hardcourt season began with early losses at the Silicon Valley Classic (first round) and Canadian Open (second). Her US Open preparations continued at the Cincinnati Open where she advanced to the quarterfinals and was defeated by Madison Keys. Her season continued next with an entry to the US Open as the 25th seed; however, she lost in the first round to qualifier Clara Burel. 2023: Australian Open final, world No. 3 Rybakina started the season at the Adelaide International 1, defeating Danielle Collins in three sets before losing to Marta Kostyuk in the second round. She followed it with another loss in Adelaide International 2 to Petra Kvitová in straight sets. However, she reached the doubles final with partner Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. At the Australian Open, Rybakina defeated 2022 finalist Danielle Collins again in the third round, world No. 1 Iga Świątek in the fourth round to become the first Kazakhstani woman to reach an Australian Open quarterfinal. Next, she defeated former French Open champion Jeļena Ostapenko to reach her first Australian Open semifinal. In the semifinals, she defeated former world No. 1 and two-time Australian Open champion, Victoria Azarenka, in straight sets, reaching the second Grand Slam final of her career. However, despite winning the first set, Rybakina ultimately lost the championship match to Aryna Sabalenka in a high quality encounter. She reached the top 10 on 30 January 2023 making her the first player representing Kazakhstan, male or female, ever to reach the top 10 on either the ATP or WTA rankings. In Abu Dhabi, defeating Karolina Plíšková, she made the quarterfinals where she lost to Beatriz Haddad Maia. In Dubai, she reached the third round by beating Bianca Andreescu and Marie Bouzková in straight sets. She withdrew from her third round match against fifth seed Coco Gauff due to a lower-back injury. At Indian Wells, as the tenth seed, she made her second consecutive Indian Wells quarterfinal defeating Sofia Kenin, 21st seed Paula Badosa and Varvara Gracheva. Then, she defeated Karolína Muchová to reach her first WTA 1000 semifinal. In the semifinals, she moved past the defending champion Świątek, in straight sets, for the second time in 2023 to reach her first WTA 1000 final. In the final, she edged second seed Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets, reversing the result of their matchup in the Australian Open final for her first WTA 1000 title. This result pushed her singles ranking to a new career-high of world No. 7. Following the final in Miami where she lost to 15th seed Petra Kvitová who prevented her from completing the Sunshine Double, and an early second round exit at the Stuttgart Open and the Madrid Open to Beatriz Haddad Maia and Anna Kalinskaya, respectively, she reached a new career-high of world No. 6 on 8 May 2023. She reached the quarterfinals at the Italian Open and moved to a new career-high ranking of world No. 5 with wins over Jasmine Paolini, Anna Kalinskaya by retirement, and Markéta Vondroušová. Next she defeated world No. 1, Iga Świątek (who retired during the deciding set due to injury) for the third time to reach her first Rome semifinal. Rybakina reached her third WTA 1000 final of the season defeating Jeļena Ostapenko. She became the third player in the Open era to reach the final in the same season at the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami Open plus Rome, after Monica Seles in 1991 and Maria Sharapova in 2012. She won her first WTA 1000 clay title, after Anhelina Kalinina retired in the second set, and moved to a career-high ranking of world No. 4, on 22 May 2023. At the French Open, despite her walkover due to respiratory illness in the third round, she reached No. 3 in the world rankings on 12 June 2023. On 26 June 2023, Rybakina announced her withdrawal from the Eastbourne International event with a viral illness. At Wimbledon, Rybakina as defending champion reached the quarterfinals where she lost to Ons Jabeur in three sets. Following her quarterfinal loss at Wimbledon, she reached the semifinals at the Canadian Open for the first time in her career. She overcame Jennifer Brady and Sloane Stephens before defeating Daria Kasatkina in a match that lasted 3 hours and 27 minutes, the longest match of Rybakina's career. The match finished at 2:55am local time. In the semifinals Rybakina lost to Liudmila Samsonova in three sets reporting that she felt 'destroyed' physically in the post-match press conference because of the scheduling issues she faced during the tournament. She reached the third round of the US Open as the fourth seed, losing to Sorana Cîrstea in three sets. 2024: Three WTA 500 titles, illnesses Rybakina started her 2024 season by winning the Brisbane International final against Aryna Sabalenka, before going out in the second round at the Australian Open to Anna Blinkova in a match that featured the longest tie-break in Grand Slam history. Rybakina won the Abu Dhabi Open, in February beating Daria Kasatkina in the final. In April, Rybakina secured her third title of the season at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, beating two-time defending champion Iga Świątek in the semifinals, and then Marta Kostyuk in straight sets in the final. She made it through to the quarterfinals at the French Open, before losing to eventual runner-up Jasmine Paolini. During the grass-court swing of the year, Rybakina retired due to illness during her quarterfinal match against Victoria Azarenka at the Berlin Ladies Open and then withdrew from the following week's Eastbourne International. At Wimbledon, she steamrollered former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, in just 57 minutes and for the loss of only one game in the third round, before winning her next match when opponent Anna Kalinskaya retired injured in the second set. Rybakina then beat Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals before losing to Barbora Krejčíková in the semifinals in a three-set match. Rybakina withdrew from the Paris Olympics two days before it got underway due to acute bronchitis. She defeated qualifier Destanee Aiava in the first round at the US Open but then withdrew from the tournament due to unspecified injuries. On 23 September, Rybakina announced she would miss the entire Asian swing of the season due to a back injury. Rybakina played her first match since August at the WTA Finals in November, losing her opening group contest to Jasmine Paolini in straight sets. She lost her second group match in three sets to Zheng Qinwen. Despite defeating world No.1, Aryna Sabalenka, in her final group match, Rybakina failed to reach the semifinals. 2025: WTA Finals champion Rybakina began her season at the 2025 United Cup, reaching the semi-finals with team Kazakhstan. She then played in the Australian Open, before losing to eventual champion Madison Keys in the fourth round. Rybakina then played at the 2025 Abu Dhabi Open, where she was defeated in the Semi Finals by Belinda Bencic. At the 2025 Dubai Tennis Championships, Rybakina saved 6 match points en-route to defeating world No. 10, Paula Badosa. Next, she defeated Sofia Kenin to reach her second semifinal in the Middle East swing and ninth overall at the WTA 1000-level where she lost in three sets to 12th seed and eventual champion Mirra Andreeva. At Indian Wells, she defeated Suzan Lamens in the second round and Katie Boulter in the third round before losing again to Andreeva in the fourth round, this time in straight sets. Having reached the finals the year prior, Rybakina entered the 2025 Miami Open seeded seventh, and lost to Ashlyn Krueger in three sets in the second round. Defending 500 points from her win in Stuttgart the previous year, she instead opted to play in the qualifiers for the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup and dropped to No. 11 in the rankings on 21 April 2025. At the Madrid Open, Rybakina defeated Bianca Andreescu in the second round before losing to No. 17 seed Elina Svitolina in the third round. However, at the 2025 Italian Open, she defeated Eva Lys in the second round before losing to Andreescu in the third round. As a last minute entry into the Internationaux de Strasbourg, Rybakina defeated Wang Xinyu, Magda Linette, and No. 9 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia to reach her first final since April 2024. Seeded 12th, Rybakina then reached the fourth round of the 2025 French Open, before losing to Iga Świątek in three sets. Rybakina began her grass season at the WTA 500-level Queen's Club Championships, where she lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual champion, Tatjana Maria. She then reached the quarterfinals of the 2025 Berlin Open, where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka in three sets, despite having four match points. Having reached the semifinals in 2024, Rybakina lost to Clara Tauson in the third round of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships. In July, Rybakina played in the WTA 500-level 2025 DC Open, reaching the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Leylah Fernandez in a grueling match that lasted over three hours and featured three tiebreaks. She then played in the 2025 National Bank Open in Montreal, Canada, where she again reached the semifinals before losing to wildcard and eventual champion, Victoria Mboko. At the 2025 Cincinnati Open, she defeated world No. 6 Madison Keys in the fourth round, recording her first win against a top-10 player since February. She then defeated world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals, marking her 7th win over a world No. 1 player, before again losing in the semifinals to No. 2 seed and eventual champion, Iga Świątek. Seeded 9th at the 2025 US Open, Rybakina defeated sixteen-year-old wildcard Julieta Pareja, qualifier Tereza Valentová, and doubles partner and former champion Emma Raducanu to reach the fourth round for the first time in her career, where she lost to 2023 Wimbledon Champion Markéta Vondroušová. At the WTA 1000-level China Open in September, Rybakina had a first round bye, then defeated Caty McNally in the second round before losing to German player Eva Lys in round three. A few weeks later, at the 1000-level Wuhan Open, Rybakina again had a first round bye, and defeated Jaqueline Cristian and Linda Nosková, before losing in straight sets to Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals. Aiming to qualify for her third straight, WTA finals, Rybakina defeated Dayana Yastremska, qualifier Ajla Tomljanović, No. 2 seed Jasmine Paolini, and No. 4 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova at the 500-level Ningbo Open to earn her second title of the year and tenth overall. She then entered the 500-level Pan Pacific Open, defeating Leylah Fernandez and Victoria Mboko to secure the last remaining spot at the 2025 WTA Finals, before withdrawing from the Tokyo tournament. In November, at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, despite being the last player to qualify, Rybakina topped 4th-seeded Amanda Anisimova, No. 2 Iga Świątek, and second alternate Ekaterina Alexandrova to reach the semi-finals, going on to defeat 5th seed Jessica Pegula. In the final, she upset world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to capture the WTA Finals crown, and extend her 11-match win streak. As a result of her undefeated victory, Rybakina earned a record-breaking $5.235 million in prize money, and finished the season as the world No. 5. 2026: Australian Open title, world No. 2 Rybakina began her season at the Brisbane International, where she lost in the quarterfinals to Karolína Muchová, ending her 13-match winning streak. She then played in the Australian Open, reaching her first major quarterfinal since Wimbledon 2024. She then defeated world No. 2 Iga Świątek in the quarterfinals and Jessica Pegula in the semifinals, setting up a rematch of the 2023 Australian Open final and 2025 WTA Finals final against world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. There, she defeated Sabalenka in three sets, securing her second major title. Unlike her first major win in 2022, Rybakina received 2,000 points as a result of her championship victory, and returned to the world No. 3 position for the first time since January 2024. During the Middle East Swing, she lost to Victoria Mboko in the quarterfinals of the Qatar Open and retired from her third round match against Antonia Ružić at the Dubai Open due to illness. At the Indian Wells Open, she defeated fifth seed Jessica Pegula to reach the semifinals. Following her victory in the quarterfinals, she became World No. 2 for the first time in her career.. She defeated Elina Svitolina in the semifinals to set up a rematch of the 2023 Indian Wells Open final and 2026 Australian Open final with Aryna Sabalenka. Rybakina lost the final in three close sets despite having a championship point in the third set tiebreak. In the Miami Open, she defeated qualifier Talia Gibson to reach the quarterfinals, setting up rematch of Indian Wells Open quarterfinal with Jessica Pegula. She defeated Pegula in a comeback three set win to set up a rematch against Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals, where her run ended after a straight sets loss. Rybakina began her clay season at the Stuttgart Open as the top seed, receiving a bye in the first round. She then defeated Diana Shnaider in the second round, saved two match points in the quarterfinals in a 3 hour battle against Leylah Fernandez, and defeated Mirra Andreeva in the semi-finals to reach her third final of the year. In the final, she defeated 7th seed Karolína Muchová in straight sets to capture the Stuttgart Open title for the second time in her career. In Madrid, she defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse, and Zheng Qinwen before being stunned in fourth round by lucky loser Anastasia Potapova. ==Playing style==

With a powerful serve, Rybakina is an aggressive baseliner who aims to finish points quickly, and whose high risk game style leads to an accumulation of both winners and unforced errors. She can generate effortless power, both on groundstrokes and her serve. Her forehand and backhand are both hit flat, with relentless depth and speed, allowing her to generate excellent power with both her groundstrokes, and she can hit winners with both shots. Her serve, which is capable of reaching ,She had hit 2,513 aces on WTA Tour in her career, 9th highest ace count on tour since 2008. She also has good movement given her height, although this is one of the few weak areas in her game. Adriano Albanesi, a WTA coach, described her as "a right-handed Petra Kvitová|[Petra] Kvitová". Rybakina plays with a very calm demeanor, and believes she can defeat any opponent. ==Coaches==

Rybakina hired Andrei Chesnokov, whom she had already trained with at Spartak Tennis Club, to be her private coach in 2018 at the age of 18. This was the first time she had an individual coach. Chesnokov only coached in Moscow and did not travel with her to tournaments. With Vukov as her first travelling coach, Rybakina rapidly improved, rising from just inside the top 200 of the WTA rankings into the top 30 in about a year. They worked together until her 2025 Australian Open exit. In January 2025, Rybakina rehired Vukov as an additional coach; he was subsequently suspended by the WTA under a code of conduct investigation, and later banned for 12 months, barring him from gaining accreditation at WTA–sanctioned events. In his absence, Rybakina hired Italian coach and former ATP tour player Davide Sanguinetti. Vukov's ban was removed in August that same year, and he returned to coaching Rybakina. According to the Athletic, Rybakina told several people that "her relationship with [Vukov] had become personal and romantic"; they were said to have shared a hotel room in Melbourne during the Australian Open. In 2025, Rybakina also added Ukrainian tennis coach and former player Stas Charmarsky to her coaching team. ==Rivalries==

Aryna Sabalenka Rybakina has a prominent rivalry with Aryna Sabalenka, having faced off in two major finals. They have played each other 17 times since 2019, with Sabalenka leading their head-to-head 10–7 whereas Rybakina leads the finals 4–2. Both players are known for their aggressive baseline play, resulting in fast-paced and intense matches. They faced off in two major finals, the 2023 Australian Open, won by Sabalenka and the 2026 Australian Open, won by Rybakina. Their other notable encounters include the 2023 Indian Wells Open final, 2024 Madrid Open semifinal, 2025 WTA Finals final, and the 2026 Indian Wells Open final. Iga Świątek Rybakina has also developed a competitive rivalry with Iga Świątek. They have met 12 times since 2021, with their head-to-head tied 6–6. Their matches are highly anticipated due to their contrasting playing styles and high rankings. Rybakina led the matchup in earlier years before Świątek recorded four straight wins in 2025, after which Rybakina defeated her at the 2025 WTA Finals. Rybakina would again defeat Świątek at the 2026 Australian Open quarterfinals in straight sets to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal since Wimbledon 2024. ==Endorsements==

Rybakina has been sponsored by Yonex for clothing and shoes since the 2023 French Open. She had previously been endorsed by Adidas from the start of 2020, and by Nike. She uses a Yonex VCore 100 racket. She was also sponsored by Red Bull from 2023 through 2025. She is also sponsored by IZI and luxury watch manufacture Vanguart. On 24 January 2023, Rybakina became an ambassador for . In March 2023, Rybakina donated ₸35 million to rising female tennis players in Kazakhstan. ==Career statistics==

Grand Slam tournament performance timelines Singles Doubles Note: Rybakina switched federations from Russian to Kazakhstani in June 2018. Grand Slam tournaments finals Singles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up) } Aryna Sabalenka Year-end championships (WTA Finals) Singles: 1 (1 title) } Aryna Sabalenka ==Awards==

• Order of Friendship (Kazakhstan) II degree – 2022 • Order of Barys (Kazakhstan) III degree – 2025'''' ==Notes==