Elena Rybakina: "Main goal is to become World No 1 one day, but priority always is to do well in the Grand Slams"

Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina has said that achieving the top ranking is her main target, but the focus is always to win more Grand Slams.

After getting off to a good start at the Australian Open this year, where she was the runner-up, the Kazakh's game suffered due to injuries and illness later in season.

Rybakina, the first player from her country to win a Grand Slam, faced illness during key tournaments. She withdrew from the third round of the French Open this year due to a respiratory illness. The 24-year-old also withdrew from Eastbourne International, considered a warm-up to Wimbledon, with a viral illness.

In a conversation with Kazakh news channel Gulf News, Rybakina discussed her goals for the 2024 season.

“Of course the main goal is to become the world No 1 one day but the priority always is to do well in the Grand Slams. So I think the goals are quite the same,” the World No. 4 told Gulf News.

Rybakina added that she had identified areas where she could improve.

“I want to improve physically because this part is always a bit weaker for me, but on the court there is so much to improve that we never have the time (to) implement what my coach is telling me,” she said.

With the Olympics in Paris adding to the already packed schedule next year, Rybakina said that it would be a tough season.

“Yes, it’s going to be tough,” the 2022 Wimbledon Champion said.

Elena Rybakina won two titles in 2023

The big serving Elena Rybakina won two titles in the 2023 season. She won the Indian Wells Open, a WTA-1000 tournament, where she beat Aryna Sabalenka, avenging her loss to the Belarusian at the Australian Open final. The win propelled her ranking to a new career-high of No. 7.

Elena Rybakina after winning the Indian Wells Open in 2023

Rybakina also won the Italian Open in Rome, her first WTA-1000 clay court title, after her opponent in the final, Anhelina Kalinina, retired in the second set. Rybakina reached the final of the Miami Open where she lost to World No. 15 Petra Kvitova, preventing her from completing the 'Sunshine Double'.

The Kazakh became the third player in the Open Era to reach the final in the same season at the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami Open as well as Rome, after Monica Seles in 1991 and Maria Sharapova in 2012.