Welcome to Next Up, where USOpen.org will showcase rising stars on the ATP and WTA tours who could be in line to make a splash to remember at the 2020 US Open. Kicking off the series is 21-year-old Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, who speaks softly but boasts a big-time presence and a game that's already suited for primetime.
Before professional tennis was forced into a five-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Elena Rybakina was nearly unbeatable—and when Grand Slam tennis returns later this month in New York, the Russian-born Kazakh is primed to pick up where she left off.
At last year’s US Open, Rybakina, who had just turned 20 years old, was already a star in the making: fresh off her first career WTA singles title on the clay courts of Bucharest, Romania, she arrived at Flushing Meadows on the rise and ranked No. 67. Though she needed to compete in qualifying—her ranking at the entry deadline was outside the Top 100—she cruised through three matches to make her US Open main draw debut.
Ending 2019 inside the Top 40 with a 57-21 overall record, the now-21-year-old started 2020 on a tear, and never let up until world events forced her to.
Her year began with a runner-up finish at the first WTA event of the season in Shenzhen, China, and she went one better to win her second WTA singles title in Hobart, Tasmania, the following week. Seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time in Australia, she reached the third round, succumbing only to world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, and reached the final at Premier-level events in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Dubai in February.
A first-round win at the Qatar Total Open in Doha on Feb. 24 was Rybakina's 20th victory in the season's first eight weeks. She was the quickest to reach that milestone on the women's tour in over a decade, and her 21 wins overall leads the tour as the season enters its restart.
While much has been impressive about Rybakina's revelatory 18 months, her transformation from a raw talent to a polished threat is what stands out the most. Blessed with a big serve—her 144 aces leads the WTA, too—well-timed groundstrokes and an unflappable on-court demeanor, Rybakina credits the partnership with her Croatian-born coach Stefano Vukov, which began last February, with helping her reach new heights.
The third-best junior in the world rankings to end 2017, Rybakina already showed flashes of her potential just two months later. At just 18 and ranked 450th in the world, she beat former top T0 player Timea Bacsinszky for her maiden WTA main-draw victory, before shocking then-world No.4 Caroline Garcia from match point down en route to the quarterfinals in her first trip to the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, as a wild card.
Two years later, and over 400 spots higher in the rankings, she encapsulates the colloquial "dark horse" moniker at her present position of world No. 17—and while many watching at home later this month may see what Rybakina can do for the first time, the game's best have already experienced what she brings to the table.
After earning victory in Melbourne, Barty called Rybakina "an excellent ball-striker" with a "big game, big serve," and "no fear." Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, beaten by Rybakina in the first round in Dubai in her first tour tournament since claiming Grand Slam glory, called her foe's performance "the best tennis that I've seen her play."
World No. 3 and 2016 US Open finalist Karolina Pliskova noted the youngster's soaring confidence after losing to her in straight sets two rounds later, and after needing a third-set tiebreak and over two-and-a-half hours to win the ensuing final, two-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1 Simona Halep was also effusive in her praise.
"It's amazing what she's done already this year... She's young. She doesn't feel the fear. She's strong. She has a huge serve. She's tall. She has power. I think she's really good to get into the Top 10 very soon."
And what does Rybakina herself think about it all?
"I don't think about the ranking, or against who I have to play," she mused in Doha. "I just play."
