Tennis legend Martina Navratilova recently assessed Elena Rybakina's form heading to the US Open and whether she can turn it around amidst her health struggles.
The World No. 4 is set to play Australian qualifier Destanee Aiava, who didn't drop a set to reach the main draw, in her opening match on Tuesday afternoon. It will be their first career meeting.
Rybakina will aim to improve on her third-round finish last year and could potentially rise to World No. 2 at the end of the fortnight. The US Open remains the only Grand Slam tournament she has not yet advanced into the second week.
But to do so, she will be taking coaching instructions from Yuri Shchukin, a former Kazakhstan tennis player who serves as the head coach of the country's Davis Cup team. He is reported to have replaced Stefano Vukov.
Rybakina and the Croatian parted ways just before the final Grand Slam of the season in an immensely shocking move. They worked together for five years, and the WTA star credited his work ethic. Vukov helped her win her solitary Grand Slam at Wimbledon two years ago.
Preparation for the 2024 US Open has obviously been very disappointing for Rybakina, who missed the Canadian Open because of a health ailment. Upon her return to action in Cincinnati, she lost to Leylah Fernandez after squandering multiple match points for a straight sets win.
That remains her only competitive match before the US Open, and if the stats sheet is anything to go by, it makes for grim reading for Rybakina's fans. She compiled a whopping 17 double faults in the match, and the drop in level as the match stretched into a third set was quite alarming.
Navratilova, who has been in this position before, can resonate with what the Kazakhstani player is going through and is not worried. She believes she can still salvage her US Open.
The 67-year-old told WTATennis.com that Rybakina's biggest concern is her health, which she opined "beats you up emotionally". However, the positive outcome of this ordeal is that she has no expectations for the tournament, which takes the pressure off.
"That’s the biggest thing for her -- staying healthy. Normally, players get injured, but she’s been sick. If she can stay healthy, then you can build. But when you’re sick or injured you go back to neutral. And then you finally get above neutral -- and you get another setback."
"You’re always treading water, so you’re not moving forward and that gets frustrating. Emotionally, that beats you up -- it takes a lot of energy to do that. The positive: Sometimes it takes the pressure off because the expectations go lower."
Rybakina has won three WTA 500 titles in the first half of the season. Her record at the Grand Slam level has gotten better since losing to Anna Blinkova at the 2024 Australian Open.
She was a quarterfinalist at Roland Garros and then made the Wimbledon semifinal, losing to eventual champion Barbora Krejcikova in three sets.
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