Elena Rybakina Reveals Interesting Story Behind Her First Porsche in 2024

Elena Rybakina has now become a two-time Stuttgart Open champion. On Sunday (April 19), Rybakina defeated Karolina Muchova 7-5, 6-1 to win her second title of the season.

Following her defeat to Muchova in the Brisbane International quarterfinal, Rybakina defeated World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the Australian Open final to win her second Grand Slam title. The Kazakh ace, however, failed to go past Victoria Mboko in the quarterfinals of the Qatar Open. After her early-round exit in the Dubai Tennis Championships, Rybakina lost to Sabalenka in the Indian Wells final.

The first time Rybakina tasted success in Stuttgart was in 2024 by beating Marta Kostyuk. But at that time, Rybakina had not gotten her license and couldn’t drive the Porsche car that the tournament gives to the champion. Rybakina got her driver’s licence last year 2025.

No, I will definitely keep it (smiling), enjoy the car. Well, I’m not the one who is driving. I have a huge team and family. I think we’re all gonna enjoy. Yeah, it’s pity that we are so much on tour that you cannot really stay home longer and enjoy cars, but when the season will end, definitely that’s something I’m gonna do.

Elena Rybakina told reporters after her win

Rybakina clinched her fifth clay-court title in Stuttgart. Last year as well, Rybakina won one clay-court title, at the Strasbourg Open.

Yeah, two years ago it was pity that I had to go in the passenger seat instead of driving the car (smiling). And now it was just really nice. At that time when I won first time, I said to myself, okay, next time I want to come back and ready to drive. So it happened, and yeah, I’m very glad and super happy.

Elena Rybakina added

Rybakina will next be playing at the Madrid Open. She has never progressed past the semifinals in the tournament.

Elena Rybakina explains the improvement she has made to her game since the last season

Before defeating Karolina Muchova in the final, Elena Rybakina defeated Mirra Andreeva in the semifinals, snapping her two-match losing streak. Rybakina now holds a 2-2 head-to-head tie over the Russian ace. At the press conference afterward, Rybakina talked about her progress since last season.

But then coming to Australia, I got injured straightaway with the back, and then just overall I think it was a lot of new where I was trying to adapt, so it was not much consistency in what we were doing from daily work. Now I think I found my rhythm, confidence game after winning some titles at the end of last season. So it is different, and I’m happy that I’m improving from one match to another, and we’re still trying to work on little details.

Rybakina doesn’t need to win a lot of tournaments to dethrone Aryna Sabalenka from the top of the rankings table. At present, the 26-year-old has 8500 points in the rankings, while Sabalenka has 9905 points.

The main draw of the Madrid Open starts on April 21. Rybakina suffered a third-round exit in last year’s Madrid Open. Sabalenka will be entering the tournament as the defending champion. She beat Coco Gauff last year to win her third title in the tournament.

Last year on the clay swing, Rybakina, after her defeat to Elina Svitolina in the Madrid Open, failed to go past Bianca Andreescu in the round of 32 of the Italian Open. After her victory at the Strasbourg Open, Rybakina’s run at the French Open was ended by four-time Roland Garros champion Rybakina. Last year, apart from the Strasbourg Open, Rybakina also lifted titles at the Ningbo Open and the WTA Finals.

Also read: Flavio Cobolli Urges His Girlfriend to ‘Stay Home’ After Losing Munich Open Final

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