"I didn't feel like I was a top player": Elena Rybakina opens up on difficult time after Wimbledon victory

Elena Rybakina spoke about her experience after being the 2022 Wimbledon champion and revealed that it was challenging to deal with the pressure of being a top player without receiving the treatment of one due to not earning points.

World No. 4 entered Wimbledon 2022 as the 17th seed, but few could predict Rybakina's impressive performance at SW19. She defeated players such as Bianca Andreescu, Simona Halep, and Ons Jabeur on her way to the final.

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However, after Wimbledon's ban on Russian and Belarusian players, it was decided that the tournament would not award points. Rybakina was the most affected, as she couldn't accumulate the 2,000 points typically awarded to Grand Slam champions, delaying her climb into the top 10 by several months.

Rybakina had to maintain consistency and eventually reached the No. 3 ranking in the world in the following months. She reached the final of the 2023 Australian Open and won two WTA 1000 titles in Indian Wells and the Rome Open. The Kazakh player discussed the challenges she faced after winning her first Grand Slam

"It wasn't easy to overcome this win. Of course after winning a title you're like 'Wow. I hope it wasn't by mistake or by luck.' In my case it was a bit different bc I didn't get the points. On the rest of the tournaments & in another big Grand Slam, I didn't feel like I was a top player,” she said.

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“It's a lot of expectations from you, a lot of people looking at you, waiting to see what you're going to do on your next tournament. At the same time, you're not treated as a top player because you didn't get the points. I'd say this period wasn't an easy one, to be honest,” Rybakina added.

Elena Rybakina's next challenge will be at the WTA Finals, marking her first participation in the tournament. Rybakina is just 90 points behind Coco Gauff, and if she performs well in the last event of the year, she could potentially finish the year within the top 3 of the rankings.