At 6, Elena Rybakina found tennis almost by chance, years of financial doubts, injuries and setbacks later she became a Grand Slam champion and world No. 1

Elena Rybakina’s journey to the top of tennis was never as simple as winning matches and collecting trophies. Before becoming a Grand Slam champion and the first player from Kazakhstan to reach world No. 1, she faced doubts about whether she could afford a professional career, had to balance school with tennis and later dealt with injuries, illness and long breaks from the sport. Her rise was built through several difficult periods.Elena Rybakina’s early struggle: From limited training to choosing professional tennisRybakina was born in Moscow on June 17, 1999. She first tried gymnastics and ice skating with her older sister, but her height made gymnastics difficult. Her father then introduced her to tennis when she was six.Her early tennis setup was not that of a future superstar. Until she was 15, she trained in groups of about eight players. Later, the group became smaller, but she still did not have the kind of individual setup many young professionals have. At the same time, she attended regular school, which left less time for training.The bigger question came when she had to decide whether tennis could really become her career. Her parents were worried about the cost and the risk of injuries. They wanted her to have a strong education, and Rybakina received offers from U.S. colleges.Then Kazakhstan gave her another option. The Kazakhstan Tennis Federation offered financial help, training facilities and career support. Rybakina switched from representing Russia to Kazakhstan in 2018. That decision gave her the chance to continue chasing professional tennis without putting the same financial pressure on her family.Elena Rybakina’s rise: Injuries, illness and the road to Grand Slam gloryHer career started moving quickly after that. Rybakina won her first WTA title in Bucharest in 2019 and broke into the world’s top 40. In 2020, she reached five finals and climbed as high as No. 17 before the COVID-19 shutdown stopped her momentum.The break was especially hard because she could not practise with her racket for about two and a half months while in Moscow. When tennis returned, she had to rebuild her rhythm. Injuries and a positive COVID-19 test then made the start of 2022 even harder.Still, Rybakina found her biggest answer on the Wimbledon court. In 2022, she beat Ons Jabeur 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the final to win her first Grand Slam title.The setbacks did not end there. Illness forced her out of the 2023 French Open, while health problems and injuries affected parts of her 2024 season. She also withdrew from the 2024 US Open before her second-round match because of injuries.Instead of letting those breaks define her, she kept returning. In 2025, she won the WTA Finals after beating Aryna Sabalenka and finished the year at No. 5.Then came another huge step. In January 2026, Rybakina beat Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to win the Australian Open. She later reached her first US Open semifinal, which secured the world No. 1 ranking. On September 14, 2026, she officially became the first player from Kazakhstan to reach the top spot.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.