Rybakina denies idolising Sharapova despite initially growing up in Russia: "The idol was for me, like, and still Roger Federer"

Elena Rybakina will contest the Australian Open final today but leading up to the final she denied idolizing Sharapova despite growing up in Russia.

There are a lot of similarities between Rybakina and Sharapova. Despite all of that she never idolized the Russian. Growing up she never even had an idol despite being Russian like Sharapova and having plenty of compatriots to watch play:

"I would say I didn't really have an idol when I was younger. I was just playing tennis after school. I didn't have much time to actually watch tennis."

A bit later she would find inspiration in Federer and that's still the case today:

"The idol was for me, like, and still Roger Federer. From the woman's side, I would say that I like just to watch, if I had the chance, like different players. I won't say from the woman's I had like an idol."

The final begins at 09:30 CET and she expects a tough battle:

"Yeah, it's going to be a tough battle. I think as today maybe I will not have to serve that big, that fast, so it doesn't really matter the speed. It's important to have a good placement on the serve.