75 Facts About Elena Rybakina

Elena Andreyevna Rybakina was born on 17 June 1999 and is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player.

Elena Rybakina has been ranked world No 3 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, making her the first Kazakhstani to be ranked in the world's top 10 and the current Kazakhstani No 1.

Elena Rybakina has won eight WTA Tour-level singles titles, including two WTA 1000 events at the 2023 Indian Wells Open and the 2023 Italian Open.

Elena Rybakina made a breakthrough in 2020, during which she led the tour with five finals.

Elena Rybakina continued to improve, reaching the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics, and marked her career highlight by winning the 2022 Wimbledon Championships.

Elena Rybakina is noted for her excellent serve and can generate high-powered groundstrokes.

Elena Rybakina was born on 17 June 1999 in Moscow to Andrey Rybakin and Ekaterina.

Elena Rybakina started playing sports with her older sister, Anna, from a very young age, originally focusing on gymnastics and ice skating.

Elena Rybakina moved from the Dynamo Sports Club to the Spartak Tennis Club, where she had several accomplished coaches.

Elena Rybakina trained with former top-10 player Andrey Chesnokov and former top-100 player Evgenia Kulikovskaya.

Elena 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.

Elena Rybakina only played tennis about two hours per day and trained in fitness for three hours a day.

Elena Rybakina began playing on the ITF Junior Circuit in November 2013 at the age of 14.

Elena Rybakina 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.

Elena Rybakina made her junior-major debut later in the year at the US Open, where she reached the third round.

Elena Rybakina continued to struggle at the junior Grand Slam and other Grade-A events in singles for the rest of the year.

Elena Rybakina 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.

Elena Rybakina finished her junior career at the first round-robin edition of the ITF Junior Masters, the junior counterpart to the WTA Finals.

Elena Rybakina won one match in her round-robin group and finished in seventh place.

Elena Rybakina began playing on the ITF Women's Circuit in December 2014, at the age of fifteen.

Elena Rybakina made her WTA Tour debut in October 2017 at the Kremlin Cup, where she reached the main draw through qualifying but lost in the opening round to Irina-Camelia Begu.

At her next WTA tournament in February 2018, Elena Rybakina won her first WTA Tour match at the St Petersburg Trophy against Timea Bacsinszky.

Elena Rybakina made her Grand Slam debut at the French Open as a qualifier, losing to Katerina Siniakova.

Elena Rybakina closed out the year strong, reaching at least the quarterfinals at her last three events of the season.

Elena Rybakina lost in the next round to eventual champion and world No 14, Aryna Sabalenka.

Elena Rybakina finished the season at No 37 in the world.

Elena Rybakina led the WTA Tour in finals during the 2020 season, and finished tied for second in match wins.

Elena Rybakina reached the finals at four of her first five events.

At Dubai in particular, Elena Rybakina defeated two top-ten players in No 7 Sofia Kenin and No 3 Karolina Pliskova, the latter of which was the highest ranked player she had defeated to date.

Elena Rybakina became the first Kazakhstani player in the top 20 in history.

Elena Rybakina eventually resumed training in Bratislava, Slovakia for five weeks.

At the Internationaux de Strasbourg, Elena 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.

Elena Rybakina did not carry this success to the next major, losing to Fiona Ferro in the second round at the French Open.

Elena Rybakina reached the quarterfinals of the French Open without dropping a set when she defeated Serena Williams in the fourth round.

Elena 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.

Elena Rybakina started the season at the Adelaide International 1, making it to the final where she was defeated by world No 1, Ash Barty.

Elena Rybakina's success continued at the Sydney Tennis Classic with a lopsided defeat of reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu, in the first round.

Elena Rybakina subsequently withdrew from the tournament citing a thigh injury.

Elena Rybakina reached a career-high ranking of No 12, on 17 January 2022.

Elena Rybakina's remaining early hardcourt season saw little progress with a second-round retirement and a walkover at the Australian Open and St Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, respectively, and a first-round loss at the Qatar Ladies Open.

Elena Rybakina became the first Kazakhstani singles player to reach the semifinal of a Grand Slam.

Elena Rybakina became the youngest woman champion since the 21-year-old Petra Kvitova in 2011.

Elena Rybakina was the fourth-youngest active Grand Slam champion, older only than Iga Swiatek, Bianca Andreescu and Emma Raducanu.

Elena Rybakina's 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.

Elena Rybakina started the season at the Adelaide International 1, defeating Danielle Collins in three sets before losing to Marta Kostyuk in the second round.

Elena Rybakina followed it by another loss in Adelaide International 2 to Petra Kvitova in straight sets.

At the Australian Open, Elena Rybakina defeated 2022 finalist Danielle Collins again in the third round, world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the fourth round to become the first Kazakhstani woman to reach the quarterfinals at this major.

However, despite winning the first set, Elena Rybakina ultimately lost the championship match to Aryna Sabalenka in a high quality encounter.

Elena Rybakina 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.

Elena Rybakina withdrew from her third round match against fifth seed Coco Gauff due to a lower-back injury.

Elena Rybakina 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 Marketa Vondrousova.

Elena Rybakina 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.

Elena Rybakina 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.

On 26 June 2023, Elena Rybakina announced her withdrawal from the Eastbourne International event with a viral illness.

At Wimbledon, Elena Rybakina as defending champion reached the quarterfinals where she lost to Ons Jabeur in three sets.

Elena Rybakina 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.

Elena Rybakina reached the third round of the US Open as the fourth seed, losing to Sorana Cirstea in three sets.

Elena 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.

Elena Rybakina made it through to the quarterfinals at the French Open, before losing to eventual runner-up Jasmine Paolini.

Elena Rybakina withdrew from the Paris Olympics two days before it got underway due to acute bronchitis.

Elena Rybakina defeated qualifier Destanee Aiava in the first round at the US Open but then withdrew from the tournament due to unspecified injuries.

Elena Rybakina lost her second group match in three sets to Zheng Qinwen.

At the 2025 Dubai Tennis Championships Elena Rybakina reached back-to-back-to-back tour-level quarterfinals defeating world No 10 Paula Badosa after saving six match points.

Elena Rybakina lost to 12th seed Mirra Andreeva in three sets.

Elena Rybakina can generate effortless power, both on groundstrokes and her serve.

Elena Rybakina has good movement given her height, although this is one of the few weak areas in her game.

Elena Rybakina plays with a very calm demeanor, and believes she can defeat any opponent.

Elena 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.

In February 2019, Elena Rybakina switched coaches to Stefano Vukov, a Croatian former tennis player who briefly competed mainly on the ITF Futures tour.

In January 2025, Elena Rybakina rehired Vukov as an additional coach; he was suspended by the WTA under a code of conduct investigation, and later banned for 12 months.

Elena Rybakina has established several notable rivalries during her career on the WTA Tour.

Elena Rybakina has been sponsored by Yonex for clothing and shoes since the 2023 French Open.

Elena Rybakina had previously been endorsed by Adidas from the start of 2020, and by Nike.

On 24 January 2023, Elena Rybakina began to cooperate with Bank RBK.

Note: Elena Rybakina switched federations from Russian to Kazakhstani in June 2018.