Elena Rybakina

Elena Rybakina is a Kazakhstani professional tennis player with four career titles to her name including the 2022 Wimbledon ladies’ singles event.

Name: Elena Rybakina

Born: June 17, 1999

Height: 1.84m

Turned Pro: 2016

Further StatisticsClick here

Born in Moscow, Russia on the 17th of June, 1999, Rybakina represented Russia until 2018 before switching to represent Kazakhstan around the same time she had broken into the world’s top 200.

As a junior, Rybakina impressed, rising as high as number three in the world rankings and reaching two Grand Slam semi-finals.

Making her WTA Tour debut at the Kremlin Cup in October 2017, Rybakina would suffer a first-round defeat to Irina-Camelia Begu.

Her next WTA Tour event would come a few months later in February 2018 at the St. Petersburg Trophy and Rybakina would defeat Timea Bacsinszky and world No. 7, Caroline Garcia to secure her first wins before losing in the third round.

Rybakina’s senior Grand Slam debut would come at the 2019 French Open. Progressing through the qualifying process to reach the first round, she would ultimately be defeated by Kateřina Siniaková 6-7, 1-6.

Her first WTA Tour title would come a few months later at the Bucharest Open. After upsetting second seed Viktória Kužmová during her run, Rybakina would defeat Patricia Maria Țig in the final.

Following up on that breakthrough success, Rybakina would have a stand-out year in 2020. Reaching five finals during the year, including victory at the Hobart International, she would break into the world’s top 20 for the first time in her career.

Rybakina would reach the first Grand Slam quarter-final of her career at the 2021 French Open with a run that included arguably her biggest win to date as she defeated Serena Williams in straight sets to reach the last eight before falling to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in a three-set thriller.

At the Tokyo Olympics, Rybakina lost out in the bronze medal match to Elina Svitolina but her continued progression saw her rise into the world’s top 15 for the first time, becoming the first Kazakhstani to do so.

In 2022, Rybakina’s career-defining moment came at the Wimbledon Championships. Straight-set wins over CoCo Vandeweghe, Bianca Andreescu, Zheng Qinwen and Petra Martić saw Rybakina into the last eight. From there a hard-fought, three-set win over Ajla Tomljanović was followed by a 6-3, 6-3 victory over former Wimbledon winner Simona Halep in the semi-finals and a win over Ons Jabeur where Rybakina had to come from a set down on centre court to claim the title.

Rybakina continued her impressive form in 2023, reaching the final of the Australian Open, defeating world number one Iga Swiatek in the process before losing out to Aryna Sabalenka in the final despite winning the first set.

Rybakina’s first WTA 1000 title came at the 2023 Indian Wells championship where she again defeated world number one Iga Swiatek in straight sets to reach the final before this time avenging her Australian Open loss by defeating Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets to win the title.

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