Elena Rybakina’s Australian Open triumph saw her return to a career-high ranking of world number three.
Nearly three years since she cracked the top three for the first time, Rybakina achieved the feat again following an outstanding campaign at Melbourne Park.
How many Grand Slam titles does Elena Rybakina win in her career?
The Kazakh star defeated Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula and Aryna Sabalenka en route to the Australian Open crown; the second Grand Slam of her career.
Rybakina is now just over 300 points behind Swiatek in the WTA rankings and could surpass the Pole soon.
She trails world number one Sabalenka by over 3000 points, but the 26-year-old is determined to close in on the Belarusian.
Elena Rybakina talks about her goal of becoming WTA number one
When asked in her pre-tournament press conference at the Dubai Tennis Championships if world number one status is on her mind after a hot start to the season, Rybakina replied: “Well, it’s definitely a goal.
“But depends, of course how the other players are going to compete and what results are going to be.
“The season is so long that I know there is no time to stop, stop working. You need to improve every day.
Who will be ranked higher by the end of 2026 – Elena Rybakina or Aryna Sabalenka?
“We have so many tournaments. Yeah, you need to catch up, and you need to keep on going.
“Definitely, that’s the goal, to go higher in the ranking, to win another Grand Slam. Yeah, we will see just how this season goes.”
Elena Rybakina reveals her favourite surface to play on
Rybakina has enjoyed success on all surfaces, but the Australian Open champion revealed grass was her favourite.
Asked what her favourite surface is after grass, Rybakina said: “After grass? Probably the hard courts, yeah.
“But I think I’ve been having good results on all the surface. Clay is quite short, but also there I had some good results.
“I think I can play on all the surfaces. Definitely the faster ones [are] better for me, for my game.”
Rybakina’s highest win percentage is actually on clay, with 73%, followed by grass on 72% and hard on 70%.
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