Elena Rybakina was eliminated from the 2024 WTA Finals in the round-robin stage. However, after beating Aryna Sabalenka, the Kazakhstani outlined her bold ambitions for next year.
The second half of 2024 has not gone as Rybakina would have liked. She started the year very strongly, winning titles at the Brisbane International, Abu Dhabi Open, and Stuttgart Open.
Rybakina also reached two other finals at the Qatar Open and Miami Open. She was the runner-up at both events to Iga Swiatek and Danielle Collins, who reversed her decision to retire at the end of this season, respectively.
The 25-year-old seemed to be on the verge of winning a second Wimbledon title in July after reaching the semifinal at SW19. By that stage, rivals Sabalenka, Swiatek, Coco Gauff, and Jessica Pegula had either been eliminated or withdrew from the tournament.
However, Rybakina was stunned by eventual champion Barbora Krejcikova. From that point, the 2023 Australian Open runner-up's fortunes began to decline in 2024.
Rybakina had to make the difficult decision to withdraw from the Olympics because of acute bronchitis. That led to her publicly apologizing to Kazakhstani fans who were devastated by the news.
A few weeks later, the tennis world was left stunned when Rybakina announced she and longtime coach Stefano Vukov had split after over five years of working together. They had achieved significant success together.
Rybakina withdrew from the US Open before her second-round match and did not compete again on the WTA Tour for over two months. During that time, many reports were made about the impact splitting with Vukov had on her.
One well-known journalist said Rybakina had psychological problems after working with Vukov, who was often criticized for behavior that was deemed harsh and even abusive during the Kazakhstani's matches.
The 2022 Wimbledon champion sought to end those rumors before the WTA Finals began by saying she and the rest of her team were good with Vukov and wished him well for the future.
Rybakina revealed some exciting news before the WTA Finals started: she will begin working with 2001 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic at the end of the 2024 season.
Ivanisevic worked with Novak Djokovic for nearly five years, helping the tennis legend win nine Grand Slams. They parted ways in March of this year and the Croatian has now accepted the challenge of working with Rybakina.
Understandably, Rybakina was rusty in her opening two matches at the WTA Finals after not playing for a considerable period. That partially explains her losses to Jasmine Paolini and Qinwen Zheng, meaning she could not qualify before her final match.
However, she ended on a high by beating world No. 1 Sabalenka. Afterward, Rybakina did not hide her ambition for 2025, admitting she wants to win Grand Slams and become the world No. 1.
"My goals are to win Slams, definitely, and the main goal is to become No. 1 one day. So, hopefully next year."
Rybakina reminded the tennis world how good she is against Sabalenka at the WTA Finals. If the 25-year-old consistently finds her best level with Ivanisevic, those goals are not unachievable.
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