"I was going to sleep really late, waking up almost in the afternoon": 'Strange' Rome Open triumph for Rybakina amid rain delay and retirement chaos

Elena Rybakina lifted her first trophy won after midnight at the Rome Open following the conclusion of her match against Kalinina which started at 23:00 local time.

Rybakina and Kalinina played only one set because the Ukrainian retired due to an injury. It was a nice conclusion for Rybakina but the whole ordeal was rather odd. She won three matches this week by retirement including the final. It was a match that was delayed by rain almost not beginning on the day that it was supposed to take place and it finished minutes after midnight.

“For sure it’s an extraordinary two weeks for me. I don’t remember when I got retirement from the other tournaments. Here it was like three. It’s really strange. Also with the rain delays I was going to sleep really late, waking up almost in the afternoon.”

“It wasn’t easy. It was a really long day. In the beginning I was fine, like, waiting, waiting. Then after maybe four hours, it was really tough. I knew that it’s not going to be easy, but that’s unfortunately the weather.”