Elena Rybakina makes statement of intent about chasing world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka
Elena Rybakina has proclaimed that becoming world No 1 is “definitely” one of her goals ahead of her appearance at the 2026 Dubai Tennis Championships.
The Kazakh secured her second Grand Slam title at the Australian Open last month, and she is currently at her career-high ranking of world No 3 — a position she first reached in June 2023.
Rybakina is on 7,523 points after reaching the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 event in Doha last week, which puts her 280 points behind second-ranked Iga Swiatek and 3,347 points behind world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka.
Neither Sabalenka nor Swiatek are competing at this week’s WTA 1000 in Dubai, which has presented Rybakina with the opportunity to climb to world No 2 and close the gap to top spot.
Rybakina is in the No 1 spot in the Race to Riyadh — the yearly rankings that determine the qualifiers for the season-ending WTA Finals.
Speaking to the media ahead of the Dubai Championships, Rybakina was asked about her hopes of attaining the world No 1 ranking this season.
“Well, it’s definitely a goal,” said Rybakina. “But depends, of course, how the other players are going to compete and what results are going to be.
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“The season is so long that I know there is no time to stop, stop working. You need to improve every day.
“We have so many tournaments. Yeah, you need to catch up, and you need to keep on going.
“Definitely, that’s the goal, to go higher in the ranking, to win another Grand Slam. Yeah, we will see just how this season goes.”
The 26-year-old, who won Wimbledon in 2022, was also asked about her favourite surface after grass courts.
“After grass? Probably the hard courts, yeah,” she replied.
“But I think I’ve been having good results on all the surface. Clay is quite short, but also there I had some good results.
“I think I can play on all the surfaces. Definitely the faster ones [are] better for me, for my game.”
On playing in Dubai, where she lives, Rybakina added: “I really love Dubai. I’ve been practising and doing pre-season on these courts. Of course, they resurface them. But everything is familiar. So yeah, it’s good.”
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