Cold-blooded, that’s how Elena Rybakina is often described, and cold-blooded she is when she crowns herself champion of the Australian Open with yet another ace. In three sets she wins the final against world number 1, Aryna Sabalenka. The 26-year-old Kazakhstani then also celebrates her victory in a subdued manner: a clenched fist, a small smile. Anyone who turned on the TV at that moment would probably not have guessed that she had just won a Grand Slam tournament.
The final was one battle of the hard hittersa battle between the two women with perhaps the most powerful blows of the entire tour. Both are known for their aggressive, dominant play out of the backfield. It was Sabalenka’s topspin forehands versus Rybakina’s fast, flat shots. They hit a lot of winners, but when things slow down, those wins can turn into unforced errors. The two are evenly matched: of the fourteen times they faced each other in this final, Sabalenka won eight and Rybakina six.
The momentum changed several times in this match. Rybakina started off strong, immediately breaking Sabalenka’s serve. The Belarusian was then no longer given the opportunity to catch up. Rybakina is known as perhaps the best server in women’s tennis today – even before the match she had hit more aces than any Australian Open participant ever – and in the first set she made good use of her biggest weapon.
In the second set the momentum slowly but surely started to shift. Sabalenka seemed to gain more and more control over the match. She won the second set by winning eight points in a row, after which she immediately broke Rybakina’s serve in the third set. For a moment it seemed as if the match would end the same as in 2023, when the two also fought for the championship in Melbourne: Sabalenka won 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
But the momentum shifted again. Rybakina’s serve improved and her confidence returned. Aided by a number of mistakes from Sabalenka, she won back the break and won five games in a row. That turned out to be enough: with two strong serves in a row, Rybakina finished the match in style.
Support from Kazakhstan
Rybakina did not dream of a Grand Slam title as a child. She was born in Moscow and although she started the sport at a fairly young age, it was nothing more than a hobby for a long time. School was the most important, her parents thought. Aspiring to a professional career was actually not a possibility. “It was just a way to spend time with friends after school,” Rybakina said during the Australian Open.
It was only around the age of 17 that the idea arose to try professional tennis. However, she could not count on financial support from the Russian Tennis Federation, and her parents did not have enough money to give her what she needed. In 2018, when she was eighteen, help came from another source: the Kazakhstani Tennis Federation saw something in her. She accepted the offer to play for Kazakhstan in exchange for financial support, thereby taking up Kazakh nationality.
I didn’t know what to do, it was mind-boggling
She hired a private coach, Stefano Vukov, a former tennis player, and focused entirely on tennis. That paid off quite quickly. In 2019, she made a huge jump in the world rankings of almost 150 places, and in the following years her ranking continued to rise and she started winning tournaments. Her first and only Grand Slam title until this Australian Open came in 2022, when she defeated the Tunisian Ons Jabeur in the final at Wimbledon, who was number three in the world at the time.
Even after that victory, her subdued reaction was particularly striking: the same fist, the same small smile. “I didn’t know what to do, it was mind-boggling,” Rybakina said in a press conference at Wimbledon a year later. But she also described herself as “a calm person.” “It’s just my personality.”
Coach suspension
How different is the personality of her coach, Vukov, who is a source of controversy surrounding the otherwise uncontroversial Rybakina. Just before the 2024 US Open, it was announced that Rybakina and Vukov had ended their collaboration. In January the following year, the WTA, the association for professional women’s tennis, announced that Vukov had been suspended indefinitely and would no longer be allowed to attend tournaments. Investigation allegedly showed that the coach violated the WTA’s rules of conduct. The WTA never made public what exactly happened, but according to one Reconstruction by The New York Times it would involve physical and verbal violence and the abuse of his position of power.
Rybakina herself has always denied that there were any problems. She said that she would have liked to add Vukov back to her team. Vukov appealed against the suspension and was vindicated in the summer of last year. The suspension was lifted and the Kazakhstani woman returned to work with her old coach. And while many in the tennis world still question the partnership between the two, Rybakina insists there is nothing to worry about.
After quite a bit of trouble in 2024 – Rybakina had to withdraw a total of eight times during major tournaments due to injury or illness – stability seemed to slowly but surely return in 2025, with the perfect ending being the win of the WTA Finals, the tournament in which the eight best players of the season participate. There she also defeated Aryna Sabalenka in three sets in the final.
She clearly carried that good form into the new year. In the shadow of title favorite Sabalenka, but also Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff, she progressed relatively unnoticed in the tournament, without losing a set. After this great victory, all eyes will be on the modest Rybakina for the time being.
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