Elena Rybakina is known as a reserved player, but she showed some personality in her latest press conference in Paris, but it didn't go over well.
After winning her first-round match in Paris, Rybakina appeared to be quite bored by the questions posed by the media. She was asked about her new kit, which she didn't find all that interesting, and she wasn't impressed when asked about playing one of her current rivals on the WTA Tour, Aryna Sabalenka, many years ago either.
Ultimately, she let her thoughts be known by saying that she was receiving very simple questions that required fairly simple answers. The reporters were particularly thrilled with that, and they hit back at the Kazakhstani player.
Noted journalist Ben Rothenberg went in pretty hard on Rybakina, basically branding her 'boring' and lacking a fundamental understanding of how to talk to media in what he called the 'entertainment industry'.
It's a fascinating, interesting situation, and most people will make up their own minds about how they view it, but her behavior certainly left the reporters uninspired because there wasn't a single request for her to do media after her second-round win in Paris.
Generally, media members request to speak to a player, and then the player is called to hold a press conference; however, if nobody wants to talk to them, they don't get called.
That's what happened with Rybakina. After her win in the second round, she spoke to Eurosport and another channel but held no press conference. There simply wasn't anybody who wanted to talk to her, which is a direct response to how the last press conference went.
Rybakina likely won't address the situation because she's generally not one to do something like that. That's part of why many people were surprised by her putting herself out there with the comments made at her last press conference.