Elena Rybakina celebrates after ranking milestone ahead of Wimbledon title defence

23-year-old tennis player Elena Rybakina achieved the highest ranking of her career as the world No. 3.

Despite her recent withdrawal from the French Open in the third round before her match against Sara Sorribes Tormo due to a respiratory illness, Rybakina's consistent performances have propelled her to this career milestone in the rankings.

"I was not feeling good already the day before, so I did not sleep tonight and had some fever, and today I really tried on the warm-up, and I feel the right decision is to withdraw because it’s really tough to play with these conditions," said.

Since winning the Wimbledon trophy in 2022, Rybakina has achieved remarkable results that have allowed her to climb in the rankings, despite being the most affected by Wimbledon's decision not to award points that year. This year, she reached the final of the Australian Open (losing to Sabalenka) and the Miami Open, and she also won titles at Indian Wells and the Rome Open.

Rybakina shared a photo on her Instagram celebrating her achievement of becoming the world No. 3 in the WTA rankings.

Despite her withdrawal from Roland Garros, she will not be deterred from playing the grass court season. She will return to action next week at the WTA Berlin Open, where she is the second seed, and next week after thar in the WTA Eastbourne tournament as the first seed.

Finally, she will be present at Wimbledon, where she will have the opportunity to earn points and defend her 2022 crown.

“For now, focus for sure to get better," said the Kazkhstani.

“There are not many tournaments on grass, but most important to get healthy again. Yeah, that was the plan,” she added.