Champion in Rome, Favourite in Paris!! Rybakina hopes she “can go far at the French Open”

The Kazakh will jump to a new career-high of No 4 in the world rankings on Monday

Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina celebrates with the Italian Open trophy Image Credit: AI/Reuters/Panoramic

May 21, 2023

After winning the biggest clay court title of her career on Saturday at the Italian Open in Rome, Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina put herself at the forefront of the title contenders for Roland-Garros, the second Grand Slam of the season, which gets underway in a week from today in Paris.

Rybakina benefitted from an opponent retiring for the third time in Rome when Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina forfeited form the match while trailing 6-4, 1-0 due to injury. Still, anyone following the women’s game knows that this was from a fluke or a patch of good luck for the 23-year-old, who also won Indian Wells in March and reached the finals of the Australian Open and Miami Open this year. That to go along with her breakthrough run to the Wimbledon title last July. No wonder that Rybakina herself is feeling more confident about her game and her chances heading into the French Open.

“Hopefully I can go far at French Open. I have good memories playing there. Now I got more matches on clay, so it’s a bit easier and a bit more confidence definitely,” Rybakina said after her win on Saturday. “For me, as I always say, important to be healthy, be ready physically, then hopefully I can go far there. I think with my game, overall I can play good on all the surfaces. It’s just maybe for clay I need to be ready more physically and maybe have a lot of preparation also, which not always have time to do after like hard court season. Overall, I think I can play well on all the surfaces.”

https://twitter.com/sebsharfam/status/1660059310045421568

For now it’s going well, and hopefully I can continue like this till the end of the season.
Elena Rybakina

The win will see Rybakina jump to a new career-high of No 4 in the world rankings (this without any points from her Wimbledon title) and assures her of a top 4 seeding in Paris. That bump in the rankings will avoid a clash with the other two big favourites in Paris – world No 1 and defending champion Iga Swiatek and world No 2 and Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka – until the semi-final stage.

Now making a strong pitch for herself as one of the Big 3 on the WTA Tour, Rybakina says she is proud of her consistency this year and hopes to continue the same for the rest of the season.

“I (am) proud that I have been able to maintain this level. It’s not easy with all the scheduling, traveling. I think we’re doing good job with the team. I can see improvements on the court, physically also. I think we’re on a right way. I think there is still a lot of room to improve. But, for now it’s going well, and hopefully I can continue like this till the end of the season.”