Elena Rybakina Describes Her Intense Rivalry with Aryna Sabalenka After Beating Her in US Open Final: “We Push Each Other to Be Better”

Elena Rybakina is the newest US Open champion. She not only spoiled Aryna Sabalenka‘s three-peat dream but also dethroned her from the No.1 ranking.

On Saturday (September 12), the Kazakh ace lifted her third Grand Slam title with a three-set win over Sabalenka, beating her for the second time this season following the final in Melbourne, where she denied the Belarusian her third Australian Open title. With this win, Sabalenka and Rybakina are tied at 2-2 in the head-to-head matchups this season, with the latter improving to 8-10 in the overall head-to-head record.

Sabalenka avenged her Australian Open final defeat in the Indian Wells final, before repeating the same result in Miami next. In both these events, Sabalenka went on to clinch the win, with the Miami Open being the last time she took home a title. Following their latest matchup, Rybakina sat for the press conference during which she was asked to describe her rivalry with the four-time Grand Slam singles champion.

Well, don’t know what the future will bring, but it’s always very difficult matches against Aryna, and I feel like we push each other to be better after such tough battles. And yeah, I feel like not only with her, with also other players, top players, and you always want to try something new to change in your game to be better, and I don’t know what future is going to bring, but I hope success and some more wins.

Rybakina also added her third title of the season to her trophy cabinet following the Australian Open and Stuttgart Open, where she defeated Wimbledon runner-up Karolina Muchova. It was her career’s sixth Big Title.

Elena Rybakina on whether this US Open final was the toughest Grand Slam final of her career

At the press conference after the US Open final, Elena Rybakina was asked whether this victory was the toughest one of her career compared to the other Majors she won. Before this season’s two hard-court Majors, Rybakina had played the finals of the 2022 Wimbledon and the 2023 Australian Open, winning the former by beating Ons Jabeur and losing the latter to Aryna Sabalenka.

Her participation in this tournament, however, was uncertain, given that an injury forced her to retire mid-match during the fourth-round match against Iga Swiatek in the Cincinnati Open. Her focus then shifted to recovery, and she did not touch her racket for a week.

I feel like they’re all very difficult but in a different ways, and definitely I was nervous, the same as other Slams finals, and you don’t sleep so well, you don’t eat that well, and I feel like this tournament was just kind of more stressful because I was playing for No.1 and then, of course, this injury which happened the week before… So every day was kind of a challenge, but I felt like, in this situation, I was more calm than when similar things were happening like before.

Had Sabalenka won, it would have been her fourth title of the season after the Sunshine Double and Brisbane International wins. Also, the win would have made her the third woman in the Open Era to win three consecutive titles at Flushing Meadows after Chris Evert and Serena Williams.

For the first time since 2022, Rybakina will end a season without winning a Grand Slam title. The US Open final was the ninth Grand Slam final of her career, and she now has a 4-5 win-loss record in these matches.

Both players, after some much-needed rest, will start preparing for the Asian swing, while on Sunday (September 13), Ben Shelton and Alexander Zverev will battle it out in the men’s final to win their first US Open title.

Also read: Alexander Zverev Believes He Can Win More Grand Slam Titles Than Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner After Reaching US Open Final