Elena Rybakina Responds to Aryna Sabalenka’s Offensive ‘Even a Stick Shoots Once a Year’ Remark After WTA Finals

Elena Rybakina improved her head-to-head record over Aryna Sabalenka to 6-8 after the WTA Finals.

Elena Rybakina Responds to Aryna Sabalenka’s Offensive ‘Even a Stick Shoots Once a Year’ Remark After WTA Finals

Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina (Image via X/sabalenka feeds, Jose Moron)

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Following her heartbreaking WTA Finals defeat to Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka made a controversial remark about her opponent’s win. Sabalenka sat with her team lamenting about her defeat and ended up uttering, “once a year even a stick shoots“.

It’s a Russian expression that means sometimes someone’s achievement is a fluke. Rybakina has heard about Sabalenka’s comments, and when she was asked during an interview with Tengri News about it, the Kazakh ace made it clear that there are no hard feelings from her side.

I was told about it after the match, but it was in context. We’ve played against Aryna several times, and more than once this year, so I don’t really dwell on it. I have good feelings towards Aryna and her team, so I don’t take it personally, even if it was directed at me directly.

Sabalenka holds an 8-6 head-to-head lead over Rybakina. This year, they met four times, with both winning two matches each.

For Sabalenka, it was her third defeat in the final of a tournament that awards a Big Title. Earlier this year, Madison Keys denied her the three-peat at the Australian Open, while at the French Open, Coco Gauff snatched the win.

Sabalenka ended the season with four trophies from nine finals. One of her titles also includes the US Open, which she won by defeating home favorite Amanda Anisimova. The four-time Grand Slam singles champion also took home the Miami Open and the Madrid Open.

Rybakina took home three titles this year. After ending her title drought at the Strasbourg Open, she clinched the Ningbo Open and the title, as well as two more wins at the Pan Pacific Open, which helped her secure a spot in the top eight of the WTA Finals.

Elena Rybakina on the WTA Finals prize money

Elena Rybakina won the WTA Finals without losing a match, which means she took home the biggest prize money that has been offered in the history of the WTA Finals. She pocketed $5,235,000, more than what Aryna Sabalenka won after defending her US Open title ($5 million).

Elena Rybakina
Elena Rybakina (Image via X/US Open Tennis)

During that interview with Tengri News, the 26-year-old was asked whether she thinks it’s fair that she earned more prize money after winning the WTA Finals than what she received after lifting her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon.

I think we’re aiming for more tournaments to increase their prize pools. So, I think it’s just a matter of time. In a couple of years, I’m sure other tournaments will follow suit. But, of course, the prize money is very large, and I’m incredibly happy that I managed to achieve this result. The previous generation’s struggle to raise the prize money has now begun to bear fruit. It seems to me that everything is moving in one direction, and it will become more stable in the future, maybe not in a year or two, but in the future 100 percent.

Rybakina ended the season as a World No.5 player with a 59-19 win-loss record. She also collected $8,456,632 as prize money.

Rybkaina was struggling to make deep runs in the tournaments earlier this season, and more than her on-court performance, she made headlines because of her coach, Stefano Vukov, whom the WTA banned, accusing him of harassing the 2022 Wimbledon champion. Vukov appealed, and the ban was overturned.

Before this year, Rybakina had never progressed beyond the round robin stage. En route to her successful run in Riyadh, Rybakina defeated Amanda Anisimova, Iga Swiatek, and Ekaterina Alexandrova in the round-robin stage, and in the semifinal, she knocked out Jessica Pegula.

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