2022 Wimbledon champion and 2023 Australian Open finalist Olena Rybakina has explained how she has been affected by the WTA’s decision not to award points at the London Grand Slam and the changes she has gone through in her last year as world No. . 10.

Olena Rybakina’s doubts and the importance of Wimbledon points

A Grand Slam winner usually gets 2,000 points in the WTA rankings, but that did not happen at the 2022 tournament at the All England Club (after organizers banned players from Belarus and Russia), and Rybakinia had to play more to reach her goal(they ultimately failed to qualify for the Tournament of Champions).

“Obviously Wimbledon was a great result but you have your doubts, maybe it was just luck or maybe it was a really good draw or something like that. So you have the same thoughts. It was a great result (Australian Open final). This gives you more confidence in other tournaments. I think when you don’t play the way you want, you don’t get the results you expect, maybe later (doubts).

The schedule was very difficult for me because I didn’t have any points (from Wimbledon) so I was aiming to get into the Champions League and trying to play a lot of tournaments.

A lot of things happened after Wimbledon and it wasn’t easy traveling to play everywhere. My preparation for tournaments played on hard was also reduced. At the end of the day it’s all about experience, every week we play you learn something new about yourself” – Olena Rybakinain an interview with Reem Abulleil (Eurosport).

He reached the final of the Australian Open, but will play in qualifying in Doha

The finalist of the Australian Open, the athlete from Kazakhstan said that she will have to play in the qualification for the tournament “WTA 500” in Doha (February 13-18), because the lists of participants are made several weeks in advance (there was still no top 10).

“You can know your program better (if you have a better rating). For example, right now in Doha they are still qualifying, so you can’t predict, but if you are in the top 10, it will be easier to plan your schedule. Sometimes you have the advantage of not playing in the first round, so you have a few extra days to practice. If you are far away, this will help you” – Olena Rybakina.

Ready to play on any terrain

Although at the end of the summer she expressed disappointment with the attitude of the organizers (her matches are not always scheduled in the most important arenas), now Rybakina said that she was not against playing on court 13 in the first match. Australian Open round.

“This time I would say I wasn’t surprised because I think I’ve done very well in the last three years, if you look at the results and there’s always something you can’t control; whether it was covid or something else, you can get injured here or there, there’s always so much going on.

So, with all that experience, I’d say this time I really didn’t care what field I was going to play on. Before, of course, you think: “Oh, I’d rather play somewhere else”, but this time, with all the experience, I was ready to play anywhere” – Olena Rybakina.

Works on all surfaces

“I feel pretty good on any surface and it’s actually fun for me to change the surface; this is the beauty of sports – to constantly adapt.

I feel confident on the grass, which, actually, I didn’t think I would be so good on. Because in juniors I played maybe once or twice and didn’t have much success, so when I started working with the coach I said I don’t really like grass, I don’t know how to play on it. But at the end of the day, this is my best achievement so far.

My first WTA trophy was on clay, so I think I can play well on any surface” – Olena Rybakina.

Present at the “WTA 500” tournament in Abu Dhabi, Olena Rybakina (favorite 3) will meet in the 1/8 finals with Karolina Pliskova (20 WTA).