Elena Rybakina: “The No. 1 Ranking Is, Of Course, One of the Goals” — World No. 2 Closes in on Top Spot After Commanding US Open Surge
Just ten days before the start of the 2026 US Open, World No. 2 Elena Rybakina wasn’t even certain if she would be able to compete in New York.
Trailing 1-4 against Iga Świątek in the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati, the Kazakh star called for a medical timeout, struggled to walk upon resuming play, and retired after a single point.
Four straight-sets victories later in Flushing Meadows, Rybakina finds herself just one win away from taking over the World No. 1 spot for the first time in her career.
“[My] preparation wasn’t that great,” Rybakina admitted after her fourth-round win over four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka. “Of course, I was not playing for seven days, and I couldn’t do much in the gym movement-wise. We had to really go day by day.”
Unstoppable Form Across Week One
If taking a week off was meant to disrupt her momentum, Rybakina has made it look like a masterstroke. The Australian Open champion has blazed through the draw without dropping a set, hitting 32 aces and winning 54% of her first-serve points unreturned behind serves topping 120 m.p.h.
Her fourth-round masterpiece against Osaka was arguably her most dominant performance of the season. Rybakina lost just four points on her first serve, firing 29 winners while restricting Osaka—one of the game’s elite ballstrikers—to just nine.
“It’s an amazing progress,” Rybakina reflected. “I’m really glad how everything worked out. As I said before, we didn’t even know if I’m going to be able to play or not… I’m very happy with how everything went. For now, I can’t say that all the matches were amazing, but of course, today was one of the best matches I played.”
“Knowing that she’s also a very aggressive player and she can serve well, I felt like I need to really focus on my serve,” she added. “A lot of points when she was serving, I was playing it as if it was the last one. I was really focused from beginning until the end.”
One Match Away From Tennis’ Highest Crown
The dominant run puts Rybakina on the precipice of a monumental career milestone. If she defeats Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng in their upcoming quarterfinal, she will officially dethrone Aryna Sabalenka and claim the WTA World No. 1 ranking. Sabalenka has held the top spot for 98 consecutive weeks since October 2024.
Despite the historic ranking on the line, the 2022 Wimbledon champion remains fiercely focused on the primary objective: lifting the trophy on Saturday.
“The No. 1 ranking is, of course, one of the goals,” Rybakina noted. “But I think the main focus for me, for the team, is to win the titles, and then the ranking will follow up. We go match by match, but obviously, we want to win the titles, the tournaments. So that, I would say, is the main goal.”
