Elena Rybakina produced some spectacular tennis to get the better of World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and win the prestigious and year-end WTA finals in Riyadh. The victory brought Rybakina the biggest prize money and a windfall of $5.23 million.
Rybakina was in sensational form in Riyadh, beating Swiatek, Anisimova and Pegula on her way to the finals. The Moscow-born, extremely talented Kazakh, played with great power and finesse to upstage her opponents.
It was in the year 2022 when Rybakina burst onto the scene by winning Wimbledon. The unassuming Rybakina displayed her terrific potential and appeared to have measured the path to success. In January 2023, she played the final of the Australian Open against Sabalenka. The match was a brutal slugfest. The power behind the strokes from both players was unseen. In a gruelling battle which could have gone either way, Sabalenka got through to win the Grand Slam.
Post that year’s Australian Open, Rybakina started losing more than winning, which surprised a lot of Tennis pundits. There was a visible loss in consistency, and she appeared to be more temperamentally affected. With performances going down, Rybakina was driven out of the top 5 and then out of the top 10. There were injury concerns, too. No wonder she became more of an enigma.
The Kazakh, however, has roared back, beating every player in the top 5 and winning two titles back to back. She won the Ningbo Open, beating Alexandrova in 3 sets and then won the WTA finals.
Rybakina was in such imperious form that she belted 13 aces in her 6-3, 7-6 ( 7-0) win over Sabalenka. She was brilliant with her serves, winning a mammoth 82% of points on her second serve. She did not allow her service to be broken and attacked Sabalenka’s second serve with great venom, winning 48% of the points on Sabalenka’s second serve. This is where Rybakina won and Sabalenka lost the match.
Rybakina, in her younger days, wanted to pursue Gymnastics or Skating, but her tall frame was not tailor-made for either of the sports, and so she took up tennis to eventually become a formidable player.
Kudos to the return of Elena Rybakina. Watch her next year.
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