Elena Rybakina has been one of the breakout stars of 2020 so far despite of course tennis being under questions at the moment as are other sports due to the Coronavirus.
Rybakina at the age of 20 is leading a revolution of younger players coming through challenging the elite; with of course Bianca Andreescu (19) and Sofia Kenin (21) both recent Grand Slam winners.
The Kazakh ace could be construed as a result as the next in a long line of new Grand Slam winners; with Women's Tennis very much the most open it has been in some time.
She has really come to the foray this year reaching four of her 6 career finals in only two months winning in Hobart and losing out in St Petersburg and Dubai.
The latter coming to higher ranked opposition in Kiki Bertens and Simona Halep; both of whom have played brilliantly themselves this season.
As a result she has gone from outside the top 100 in 2019 up to 36th and now 17th in the world. With the Coronavirus pandemic currently occurring; this in effect could work in favour of the 20-year old; with her not defending too many ranking points; due to where she was in the rankings previously.
This could mean that if the rankings aren't frozen in the coming weeks, Rybakina could be the big beneficiary.
Change in Grand Slam fortunes
Her Grand Slam results too are showing the improvement with her reaching the third round at the Australian Open and she will hope to improve runs at the French Open and US Open this year where she has previously reached the first round.
As well as Wimbledon where she has never made the main draw reaching the third round of qualifying this year and she has gone from that to being a seed on debut.
This success could be attributed to Stefano Vukov with the coach being hired in 2019 to end a two year coaching relationship with Andrei Chesnokov. Whatever it is has been working and Rybakina looks a different player this year, a new Grand Slam winner? She has the potential to do so.
Samuel GillEditor-in-Chief
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
Based in Leicester, Samuel has a broad background in tennis media. In his current role, he works closely with editors and writers to ensure coverage meets clear journalistic standards, with particular attention to verification, consistency, and timely updates when new information becomes available.
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