Elena Rybakina is ready to defend her title won at Wimbledon last season. The No. 3 in the world returns to London, where last year she won the first Grand Slam title of her career, the first big step in a career. which is taking off.
During the media day, Elena shared her feelings about her come back on the Al England Club lawns: “It’s good to be back. Best memory of last year? Certainly the final, with attached trophy and ceremony. Then we managed to stay maybe only a now with the whole team to celebrate. Yeah, I think overall it’s just these two weeks that I’ve been playing.”
At Wimbledon, the Grand Slam champion arrives not in the best physical condition: “The preparation we did was good, but I still don’t have the amount of hours and work we wanted to dedicate. But overall I think we did the best we could. It wasn’t easy after Roland Garros because for a week I didn’t do anything, then I started slowly. It was hard. I think it was still good preparation.”
Wimbledon Queen Elena Rybakina reveals her feelings on the eve of her match
After winning Wimbledon last year, Elena Rybakina did not move up the WTA rankings due to the tournament’s decision not to award points.
This was one of the factors that led other tournament organizers not to assign her the main court for her matches. At Wimbledon, however, she is the defending champion and her Central will be everything to her.
She said: “It will be exciting for me. Yes, playing now like the first matches on big courts is different for me. Also coming to the tournament as defending champion is something new, like a new chapter. I hope to continue like this coming to the tournaments.
This year is different. I won’t say I feel so much pressure. I hope my level stays this high and it will be a regular thing to come and defend. Sure, now it’s something new, but like I said, this is just next step towards the goal.”