Former world No 1 highlights Australian Open threat of star who ‘smoked’ Aryna Sabalenka

Ewan West 14 Dec 2025 1:00 PM

Pictured: Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff

Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff (Wuhan/CVC)

Former doubles world No 1 Rennae Stubbs has identified Elena Rybakina as a player that nobody will want to face at the 2026 Australian Open.

Rybakina finished the 2025 season as the world No 5 after she compiled an impressive 59-19 (75.6%) record.

The Russian-born Kazakh ended her year on a massive high as she won the WTA Finals in Riyadh — where she won all five of her matches during a stunning run. She defeated Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Amanda Anisimova — three of the top four players in the WTA Rankings — in Riyadh.

The 26-year-old also secured WTA 500 titles in Strasbourg and Ningbo this season.

Rybakina has won 11 WTA Tour singles titles, with her biggest title coming at Wimbledon in 2022.

Speaking on an episode of the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, Stubbs backed Rybakina to be “in the mix” for the Australian Open title in January.

“Rybakina has had a little bit of an up and down year, but I think, look out for her in Australia,” said the six-time Grand Slam doubles champion.

“She smoked Sabalenka a couple of years ago in Brisbane and then came down and decided to play Adelaide and re-tweaked a bit of an Achilles issue and went and lost in an epic tiebreak to [Anna] Blinkova a couple of years ago.

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“I think that’s when she should have won the Australian Open after what she did to Sabalenka the week before, but she will be there and knocking on the door big time. And no player wants to play her. No player.

“She does not have a ton of weaknesses, massive serve. She has the biggest and best serve in women’s tennis, probably. One of the best backhands I have ever seen. So she will definitely be in the mix at the Australian Open.”

What is Elena Rybakina’s record at the Australian Open?

Rybakina holds a 14-6 (70%) record from her six previous main draw appearances at the Australian Open.

This makes the Australian Open Rybakina’s third-best major for win rate behind Wimbledon (84%) and Roland Garros (73%).

The Kazakh was a runner-up at the Australian Open in 2023, when she lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the final.

Rybakina reached the last 16 in Melbourne in 2025, falling to eventual champion Madison Keys.

She fell in the third round in 2020 and the second round in 2021, 2022 and 2024.

What has Elena Rybakina said about her Grand Slam ambitions heading into 2026?

Speaking to wtatennis.com last month, Rybakina was asked if her WTA Finals victory could be a springboard to Grand Slam success next season.

“Well, I hope so. All that happened this week, I can bring to the next season,” Rybakina said.

“It gives me so much more motivation to work even more because we did good progress in the little blocks between the tournaments. Physically, even when I wasn’t at my best, we did a good job.

“I’ve experienced winning a Slam, losing in a final to Aryna… each match like this brings so much experience and this time it went my way, everything worked. I’ll try to carry every positive thing from this tournament into my next big matches.”