Elena Rybakina Reveals Why She and Team Didn’t Party After Australian Open Win

Elena Rybakina will play Qinwen Zheng in the last 16 of the WTA 1000 Qatar Open.

Elena Rybakina Reveals Why She and Team Didn’t Party After Australian Open Win

Elena Rybakina (Image via X/AllABoutHQ)

In Short
  • Elena Rybakina won the Australian Open, becoming a two-time Grand Slam champion.
  • She did not celebrate her victory extensively due to a cold and immediate commitments.
  • Rybakina is currently competing as the second seed in the Qatar Open after Sabalenka's withdrawal.

Elena Rybakina became a two-time Grand Slam champion by denying Aryna Sabalenka her third Australian Open title. She went past the Belarusian ace in three sets, winning at Melbourne Park for the first time in her career.

She was the runner-up in the tournament back in 2023, losing the final to the four-time Grand Slam singles champion. The previous year, she beat Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in the Wimbledon final.

Rybakina has returned to competition. In the ongoing Qatar Open, she is playing as the second seed, as World No.1 Sabalenka has decided to pull out.

Rybakina knocked out Wang Xinyu to schedule a round of 16 match against 2024 Paris Olympics gold medalist Qinwen Zheng, against whom Rybakina holds a 2-1 head-to-head edge. In a press conference, Rybakina was asked how she celebrated her Australian Open win.

We celebrated with the team when we went back to the hotel a little bit. Actually, then next day we had to do a lot of things. So I suppose to celebrate, we did a little bit at home in Dubai. But as I said, I got a cold, so I had to really stay at home and not do much. I had to unpack my bags, and the time flew like this so I’m here.

Rybakina, in fact, did not celebrate at all after winning the last point of the Australian Open final. In an interview, she joked that upon winning the match, she was just relieved that it was over. The win helped Rybakina get back to her career-best No.3 ranking.

Prior to this event, the last time she made a Grand Slam quarterfinal was at the 2024 Wimbledon. En route to improving her head-to-head record over the Belarusian to 7-8, Rybakina knocked out Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals and Jessica Pegula in the semifinals. Before the Australian Open, the World No.3 participated in the Brisbane International, but her run ended in the quarterfinals against Karolina Muchova.

Elena Rybakina reveals her mindset for the Qatar Open

At the Qatar Open, Elena Rybakina finished as the runner-up in 2024, losing to six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek in straight sets. In the pre-tournament press conference of the ongoing event, Rybakina talked about her mindset, saying she would not be putting a lot of pressure on herself to win the first WTA 1000 of the season.

Elena Rybakina
Elena Rybakina (Image via X/The Tennis Letter)

Hopefully this week is going to be as good as in Australia, but if not, we have so many tournaments ahead, and there are big ones, so we’ll try to work on things and get good results. I think the matches are the best practices, also at the end of the day. So we’ll see how I’m going to feel here and how the matches will go. But again, it’s a good practice, no matter what. We still try to work on some things with the team. I don’t put too much pressure or expectations, that’s for sure. I definitely want to do well, and we’ll just see how it’s going to go day by day.

Rybakina is the winner of five Big Titles: two Grand Slams, one WTA Finals, and two WTA 1000 titles. In last year’s WTA Finals, Rybakina defeated Aryna Sabalenka.

The two WTA 1000 that she lifted came at the 2023 Indian Wells (beat Sabalenka) and the 2022 Italian Open (beat Anhelina Kalinina). Since then, she has made two more finals at this level: she lost the 2024 Qatar Open to Swiatek and the 2024 Miami Open to Danielle Collins. Last year in WTA 1000 events, the 26-year-old made three semifinals.

Also read: Coco Gauff Frustated Being Unable to Translate Practice Sessions into Tennis Matches After Doha Exit