Elena Rybakina Blames Allergies for Hampering Her Rome Open Preparations

Elena Rybakina has offered health updates after struggling with allergies ahead of the Italian Open. The former champion has been dealing with the issue since exiting the Madrid Open, which delayed her preparations for the Rome Open. However, she hopes to overcome the obstacle and play her best tennis at the tournament.

Rybakina failed to make it past the fourth round of the Madrid Open as she collapsed to lucky loser Anastasia Potapova in straight sets. For Potapova, it was the biggest victory of the season, taking down the World No.2 in scintillating fashion.

It was a hugely eye-catching result which blew the tournament wide open for Marta Kostyuk to claim the trophy.

For Rybakina, it was another missed opportunity to win her third title of the season. The Kazakhstan star had the chance to close the gap between her and World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the WTA rankings. Sabalenka lost to Hailey Baptiste in the quarter-finals, which cost her 785 ranking points.

However, that leaves Sabalenka with just 1,555 points above Rybakina in the WTA rankings. The Belarusian star still has 1,515 points to defend on clay. Rybakina cannot overtake the World No.1 during this clay season but has the opportunity to do so during the grass swing, if she can reduce the gap further.

The Rome Open presents an excellent opportunity for Rybakina to do so, while putting more pressure on Sabalenka. But allergies forced her not to prepare adequately ahead of the Italian Open, which is disappointing. She admitted while speaking to reporters that she’s trying to adjust her practice schedule to get better:

Well, I could say that I wish I felt better because last week I would say I was struggling a lot with the allergies. Now it’s getting better. We are trying with the team, we are adjusting all our practices. We need to really see day by day how I feel. Some days are better; some days are worse. The day when it’s rain for me is the best right now. We wanted to do much more physically to prepare for this tournament. I think we did a good job.

Rybakina already has one clay-court title to his name, having claimed the Stuttgart Open last month. She has been impressive this season, reaching three finals and winning two. The 26-year-old just has to get a little better on clay, as the surface isn’t her best on tour. She’s known as a hard-court master.

Elena Rybakina says she can perform well on clay with good preparation

Elena Rybakina has won just two WTA 1000 titles in her career, well behind the likes of Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka. Rybakina’s title triumph came in 2023 at the Indian Wells Open and the Italian Open. The latter saw her dump Swiatek en route to the championship victory in Rome.

Since then, she won the Stuttgart Open in 2024 and 2026, and the 2025 Strasbourg Open, meaning she has won at least one title on clay since her Rome success. Can she win at least two clay titles this season? She revealed during the aforementioned press conference that despite the fact that clay isn’t her best surface, she can do well with a good preparation:

On clay, I didn’t have as much confidence because I didn’t play much, not even as a youngster. I think my first WTA tournament was on clay. After that, I thought I could play well on all surfaces. Clay and grass seasons are short. With good preparation, you can perform well on all of them, although for me, clay is a bit slow, and I prefer quicker points. But the results show that I can play well on any surface.

Rybakina will open her Italian Open campaign against either Maria Sakkari or a qualifier. She’s projected to face either Xinyu Wang or Alexandra Eala. Later on in the event, she could face Jessica Pegula or Swiatek in the semi-finals, with a potential clash against Sabalenka in the final.

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