Elena Rybakina is one match away from winning a Porsche car at the 2024 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, but she lacks a driver's license.
The Kazakhstani player has been playing tremendous tennis this week in Stuttgart, which she confirmed by ousting Iga Swiatek from the event. Swiatek, of course, is a back-to-back champion at the WTA 500 event in Stuttgart, so it's not easy to beat her there. In fact, no one else did it before Rybakina.
It was a fabulous display from the Kazakhstani player, who proved once more to be a very tough matchup for Swiatek. Now she's in the final and will face Marta Kostyuk on Sunday. That matchup is certainly favorable for her as she's the higher ranked better and better overall.
There is a pretty good chance that she will win the final match, and if she does, well, she'll win a Porsche car, which is reserved for the winner of the event. Rybakina wants this prize, but she won't be able to utilize it personally right now because she doesn't have a driver's license.
She told the media after her win over Swiatek, admitting that she'd wanted to do it for a long time but simply never found the time. As she would tell the media during the press conference, possibly winning the car could increase her motivation to finally get it done this year.
"I wanted to do it already long time, but I never have chance to be at one place for long. I did already couple of lessons. I was driving, but yeah, for sure that's the goal for this year outside of the court. And with this car, if I win, it's going to be one double goal. Hopefully I finish it this year."
As a tennis player, the world no. 4 will, of course, focus on the result, but car would certainly be a nice bonus, that players can't get anywhere else except for Stuttgart.