Elena Rybakina finished the 2025 campaign with a flourish by stunning Aryna Sabalenka and winning the WTA Finals.
Rybakina praised Sabalenka after her win, with the world number one left to rue yet another defeat in a big final – so often the theme for her in 2025.
Sabalenka was frustrated at the end of the match but had no answer for Rybakina, who showcased some brilliant tennis, winning all five of the matches she participated in at the event.
Rybakina is up to a new world ranking of number five and things are certainly looking up for her as the Australian Open comes up on the horizon in January.
Beating Sabalenka is no mean feat, and the Kazakhstani star has showcased exactly what she’s capable of ahead of the new year, which she will now be extremely excited for.
What Lindsay Davenport has said about Elena Rybakina
It was a vintage performance at the WTA Finals for Rybakina with the former world number three showing the sort of form that helped her win Wimbledon in 2022.
It would appear as though Rybakina is edging back to her best and this win will undoubtedly give her confidence going into the start of 2026 which will come around in no time at all.
Rybakina is renowned for a huge serve on the tour, with 516 aces coming from her racket from 76 matches during 2025. Now, Rennae Stubbs has claimed that Davenport has told her that the WTA Finals champion has one shot that can make her unplayable.
She said on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast: “”I think that Rybakina has had situations where she’s smoked Sabalenka, look at that final in Brisbane a few years ago, Sabalenka barely won a game and then two weeks later Sabalenka wins the Australian Open.
“I just think Sabalenka’s upside is like really good all of the time, you know, she’s not losing in first round matches, she’s getting to semis, she’s getting to finals. Rybakina is currently losing to random people at random times because I think when her A-game is on she’s almost unbeatable and it comes down to the serve, she’s the first player since Karolina Pliskova who did it like five years ago that’s served over 500 aces in a year, which when you think about it that’s like three free games every set that she’s serving pretty much.
“If the serve is on and indoors, she is by far the most aggressive big-hitting player. If it’d have gone three sets could it have been a different story, of course, but if, if, if, as we know, doesn’t exist, so yeah Rybakina at her best, her serve is as good as you get, her backhand is as good as you’ll get, it’s whether the forehand goes down the line and early on in the match.
“Lindsay Davenport said if she gets that down the line consistently then she’s unbeatable and she pretty much took care of everyone in this tournament.”
Rybakina now needs consistency for Grand Slam glory
The 26-year-old knows what it takes to win a Grand Slam title having won Wimbledon in 2022 and now she simply needs to strive for more consistency.
Beating all of the world’s top players pretty much in Riyadh should give her an abundance of confidence going into 2026 and that could make her pretty dominant.
As Davenport says, the forehand is on point in tandem with the serve then she is more than capable of beating the best players on the WTA Tour.
The issue for Rybakina in recent years has been consistency and driving deep in tournaments. Now she’s won the WTA Finals, however, this could become a thing of the past and more titles could come the way of the 26-year-old in the future.
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