Elena Rybakina's Wimbledon title defence will be the hardest thing she's ever going to attempt and it's not been an ideal preparation for her.
Rybakina put together a surprising run at last year's Wimbledon to become a Grand Slam champion. The Kazakhstani player became the first WTA Grand Slam champion from the country and it came as a surprise to her as well.
She didn't really play that much on the surface which generally doesn't bode well. This year isn't particularly different in that regard though the reasons are different. Rybakina's Roland Garros was cut short by an illness that proved more severe than initially thought.
She spent days in her hotel room unable to go out and even after recovering, Rybakina was feeling the effects of it. Preparations for Wimbledon were also derailed by it as she recently admitted that she was not feeling 100 %.
Of course, the preparation we did, I would say it was good, but still not the amount of hours and work we wanted to put in. But overall I think we did maximum what we could. It wasn't easy after French Open because it took me -- I mean, one week I didn't do anything, then slowly start. It's been tough.
Branded as the best grass player on Tour by Roddick, the player is looking forward to the daunting task of being a defending champion at a Grand Slam. In light of her recent admission, Rybakina was once again asked about her status in percentages but she was wise to avoid putting a number on it. She simply stated that she was ready.
Well, I think I'm ready. Of course, a lot of good players. First round is not easy always, so I think the preparation we did is good enough. Hopefully with every match I'm going to feel better.
Yeah, important just to start and then we see how I feel. Yeah, I think if I'm going to get matches more on grass, I will feel more confident, of course.
Her 1st round opponent will be Shelby Rogers, a capable and dangerous player who can hurt players on grass. Rybakina is well aware of the danger of facing a very experienced player who has beaten good players at Grand Slams before.
Yeah, we played a couple times. Two times on grass, I think. She's tough player. She also serves well. She's trying to play aggressive, so it's going to be not an easy one. We know each other pretty well. So yeah, I'm going to try to do my best, of course. We see how it's going to go.
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