Elena Rybakina is not an only child and has a sister who accompanies her on the Tour from time to time and it's something she cherishes a lot during a stressful season.
A tennis season is very long and taxing. Starting with the physical side which is quite brutal having to play pretty much weekly to the mental side which involves you travelling around the world and changing cities weekly. You are never home so it does get lonely very frequently. Some tennis players handle it better than others but it's not as fun as it looks from the outside.
Rybakina has her sister with her most of the time and it allows her to keep a good balance on both. They get to experience the world together by exploring cities. For example, they generally remain a day or two in a city after the event to explain it properly. Having her sister with her also gives her a chance to a have permanent feeling of 'home' with her.
Rybakina credits her sister for keeping her positive
They grew up together and are pretty close with the sister being quite a positive person. That allows Rybakina to feel quite energetic because she is for the most part quite shy and reserved. Speaking about her sister Rybakina admitted that any time she's in a bad mood or something her sister cheers her up:
“She's very positive. Also, a lot of energy from her. So it's just nice that we can spend time together. And, yeah, I think she's also helping, especially if you have a bad day or something, she's the one always positive. So it's good”
It's been going good this year as the Kazakh player has already won two Masters trophies. Perhaps it's time for a grand slam trophy too. Exploring Paris together after lifting that trophy would be quite fun for the sisters.
