Elena Rybakina has admitted that she struggled to back herself after winning Wimbledon because she wasn’t treated like a top player. The Kazakh lifted the title in 2022 when ranking points were not awarded during the tournament, leaving her unable to move up the standings despite lifting her maiden Grand Slam trophy. Now the world No 5, Rybakina said she questioned whether her victory happened “by mistake” because she didn’t feel like an elite player.
Rybakina was crowned the Wimbledon champion back in 2022, going on an incredible run that saw her beat Grand Slam champions Bianca Andreescu and Simona Halep en route to the final. She then came back from a set down against Ons Jabeur to pick up her maiden Grand Slam trophy.
But there was a difference with the 24-year-old’s triumph as the WTA and ATP had already opted not to award ranking points at Wimbledon in response to the All England Club banning Russians and Belarusians from playing amid the war in Ukraine. It meant that Rybakina could not pick up the usual 2,000 points that are given to Major champions and she remained outside of the world’s top 20 as a result.
The Kazakh has now admitted that it left her feeling like her win could have been down to “luck or a mistake” because she didn’t feel like a true top player despite becoming the Wimbledon champion. “It wasn’t easy to get over that victory,” Rybakina told Redbull’s Mind Set Win podcast.
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“It’s clear that after winning a title like that, you’re in shock and you think, ‘Wow, I hope this didn’t happen by luck or by mistake.’ In my case everything was a little different because I did not receive the points that corresponded to me. In the rest of the tournaments and, above all, in the rest of the Grand Slams, I did not feel that I was a top player.”
It was a double-edged sword for Rybakina, who said that she still faced the pressures of being a Grand Slam champion without getting the respect that a top player would. She continued: “There are a lot of expectations on you, a lot of people watching you and paying attention to you, who are waiting to see how you do in your next tournament.
“At the same time, you are not treated as a top player because you haven’t gotten the points that you deserved. I would say, honestly, that that stage was not easy at all.” Rybakina had to wait for her top 10 debut, only reaching the elite group of the rankings at the start of this season.
The five-time title winner backed up her Wimbledon run by reaching the final of the Australian Open this year, with the result earning her a long-awaited spot in the top 10. She has since gone on to lift a WTA 1000 trophy in Indian Wells and has been ranked as high as No 3 in the world.
