"Sometimes it's good, sometimes maybe it's not": Reserved Rybakina admits calm personality both blessing and a curse

World number three Elena Rybakina believes that having a calm personality is both a positive and a negative thing.

The 24-year-old is defending her title at Wimbledon 2023 as she won it last year after beating Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in the final with a score of 3–6, 6–2, 6–2.

Despite her on-the-field success, Kazakhstan’s star tennis player keeps a calm composure on the court, something you don’t get to see at the highest level in any sport.

Talking about that, Rybakina stated that she has been like this for a ‘long time’ and revealed that one of the reasons could be that she likes to focus on herself.

"Just because I'm [a] calm person. This is something I'm like this for [a] long time,” she said. “Not many matches you can see a lot of emotions. I just think that I'm focus a lot on myself. Sometimes it's good, sometimes maybe it's not. You need to always be aware of what's happening around.

“So yeah, I would say just my personality. I didn’t know what to do. It was shocking. I don’t know, maybe because I believe that I can do it deep inside. But at the same time it’s, like, too many emotions. I was just trying to keep myself calm," she said.

Rybakina has been in sublime form in her title’s defence in the ongoing competition where she has already cemented her place in the third round.

In the first round, she defeated America’s Shelby Rogers with a score of 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. In the round of 64, she was just too dominant for her opponent Alize Cornet and secured a win in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 7-6.

Rybakina will now face Britain’s Katie Boulter in Wimbledon’s round of 32 clash on Saturday.