Elena Rybakina says she didn’t feel like a top player after capturing the 2022 Wimbledon title.
The Kazakh stunned the draw at the All England Club with her fairytale run to winning her maiden Grand Slam title. Seeded 17th in the draw, she defeated Bianca Andreescu and Simona Halep en route to the final where she ousted Ons Jabeur in three sets to capture the trophy. At the time it was only the third title of any sort she had won on the WTA Tour.
Rybakina’s triumph occurred during what was a unique Wimbledon championship due to the war in Ukraine. Russian and Belarussian players were banned from participating in the event. Something that prompted backlash from both the WTA and ATP who decided to remove the allocation of ranking points in the tournament. A bitter blow for Rybakina who would have earned 2000 points if she had won in any other year.
“It was not easy to overcome this win because, of course, after winning the title, you are like ‘Wow, I hope it was not just by mistake, or by luck or whatever it is’. In my case, it was a bit different that I didn’t get the points, so on the rest of the tournaments and another big Grand Slam, I didn’t feel that I am a top player,” Rybakina said on Redbull’s Mind Set Win podcast.
Following her Wimbledon triumph, the 24-year-old one reached one more final that season which was in Slovenia. However, this year she has proven her status as a top player by winning two WTA 1000 tournaments and reaching her second Grand Slam final at the Australian Open.
“It’s a lot of expectations from you and a lot of people looking at you waiting that what you are gonna do next on your next tournament,” she continued. “But at the same time, you are not treated as a top player because you didn’t get the points. So I would say that this period was not an easy one for sure.”
Rybakina is currently ranked fifth in the world which is two places below her career-high. At her most recent tournament, she reached the semi-finals of the China Open before losing in straight sets to Liudmila Samsonova.
