Rybakina and a cautionary message: "I had several days when walking caused me pain"

Carlos Navarro - 30 Aug 2026 | 01:00
Elena Rybakina WTA US Open 2026 Rueda de prensa

The Kazakh player showed great pride in her recent evolution and confirms that she did not pick up her racquet for more than a week after Cincinnati. Will she make it in time for the US Open?

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Rybakina spoke before starting her journey at the US Open.

The WTA is a shark tank where just one injury can keep you out of action for a long time. Elena Rybakina knows this well, having experienced discomfort in her Achilles for weeks: in the midst of battling for the world number one spot and aiming to enter the US Open as the circuit's dominant player, the Kazakh eased off the gas, reached the final in Canada... and saw her situation become impossible in Cincinnati, with a withdrawal that turned her participation in New York into a question mark.

She admitted today, at the press conference before the tournament, that she went a week without picking up a racket. It was a time for reflection, consultations, and starting a race against time that is culminating these days with optimism soaring. The Kazakh is clear that she arrives physically well, without the injury that sidelined her, but she knows she can have no other objective than to take it match by match, dealing with the rust after a time filled with more doubts than certainties. Will she be a contender to capture the last Slam of the year and seize the number one spot? She is clear on this: the ranking doesn’t occupy even a second of her mental space.

Rybakina and her journey to the US Open: Is she 100% physically fit?

How she feels physically before this US Open

"I have started training, so I feel good. We’re still making some adjustments. Overall, I’m pleased with how we have dealt with this issue. We’ve worked really hard, and everything is fine at the moment; it’s a matter of adding some more training sessions to be fully ready for the first match. I didn’t play all week after my last match and had consultations with different doctors. I started my recovery and began to get back on the court gradually. In the meantime, a lot of gym work. It wasn’t easy because we didn’t know exactly how my foot would react: it was very painful for me to serve in that match in Cincinnati, although I wanted to try once more. For a couple of days, even walking was painful for me. We tried to do everything possible to make it better, and I’m happy with how the process is going.”

Any questions unanswered in her mind before transitioning from training to matches?

"I don’t have questions. I have a lot of confidence in the decisions we make day by day: in terms of how to train, what to do, and especially what could happen in the worst-case scenario. I feel confident about all this. I’m starting to feel better regarding my mobility on the court, especially after not playing throughout the week. I feel that, as a few more days pass, I should be really good (smiles)”.

How experience can help her in a critical situation like this

"I honestly didn’t know how things would unfold. Since everything happened, it has been very painful. I couldn’t walk for several days without feeling pain. I was already sad; no one knew how everything was going to go, we were taking it day by day. Being here today in this situation is impressive progress. We’ll see what happens in the coming days, but so far, it’s going well. I always want to step onto the court when I’m 100% sure, and it’s the last Grand Slam of the year, so I think we all want to compete at our best.”

How the new schedule, with new two-week WTA 1000 events, has contributed to the injury epidemic in the circuit

"As you can see in the recent tournaments, and perhaps also with other players, yes, the tournaments are now longer, but at the same time, in the first week, you basically play a couple of matches, and in the next week, which is supposed to get tougher with tougher opponents, you play almost every day. Especially, many tournaments schedule matches in the night session, so you don’t have much time to recover.

Even Cincinnati, which is a bit longer tournament, we had to play back-to-back after Canada: we got an extra day to recover, but then played two matches in a row. That for me is the most complicated part of recovery. It’s not about the hours you spend on the court, but about the constant changes, traveling, and although the tournaments are longer, we still play many days in a row, especially matches that end very late.”

On the possibility of being number one after the US Open and whether she's looked at the different scenarios

"I haven’t checked the ranking situation exactly. Through the press, I know how I should do it and how the others should play, the different scenarios. For me, especially after the injury I had last week, the most important thing is to stay healthy, take it match by match. This is not the last tournament of the year: it’s clear that it’s a Grand Slam, and you want to perform well, but afterwards, there will still be plenty of opportunities if you stay healthy and play consistently. I try not to think about any of that, just focus on taking it match by match.”

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Rybakina y un mensaje de cautela: "Estuve varios días en los que caminar me causaba dolor"