Rybakina, after an impeccable debut: "Now I feel good, but we'll see how I recover tomorrow"
The Kazakh player cleared all doubts in her first match in New York, conceding just five games against Frodin. Is that enough to forget her recent injury? According to her, we will have to wait.
There was a little buzz around Elena Rybakina before her debut at the US Open 2026. Is she injured? Is she going to retire? Will she make the effort to fight for the No.1 spot? For now, all we know is that her debut in New York was remarkable. A resounding victory against Thea Frodin, leaving her just four wins away from conquering the circuit. We listen to her words.
Elena Rybakina analyzes her debut at the US Open 2026
"I am happy with the match. Especially when you don’t know your opponent, it can always be dangerous, but overall I am happy with the first match and how it went. We didn’t know if I would be able to play here or not. I’m quite happy, of course, to be playing now, and we took it day by day. I didn’t play all week; I was seven days without tennis and basically couldn’t do much gym work either due to the movements involved. So it’s a great result after ten days from that type of injury."
Is Rybakina playing injured?
"Right now I feel good. Of course, we’ll see day by day how I wake up tomorrow, since this was the first match and there was quite a lot of movement. At the moment I got injured it was during the serve. I think everyone could see that. Now I’m fine. I can’t tell you more."
The memory of Australia to build confidence
"Of course, winning a Grand Slam gives you a lot of confidence for the rest of the season, and you just want to keep going, keep playing. It also gives you motivation. I have to say that finishing last year very well, playing a lot, and starting like this in Australia made us expect a dip in my game, and it happened for a somewhat longer period. The results I wanted on clay and grass weren’t there. We kept playing, we kept adjusting things, so I’m happy with how these hard court tournaments have gone so far, except for the injury, of course. But when you start like this, it’s always motivation and confidence."
Analysis of Thea Frodin, her young rival
"I think she has great shots, especially the serve. She has a powerful game, which I think is great, and it’s just a matter of gaining experience, being more stable and playing more matches. But she has the game. She can be quite dangerous with these kinds of shots. When I was watching her a little earlier, it wasn’t easy to understand how she played, because, for one, she hadn’t played many matches and had faced different types of opponents. I knew it could be complicated. Especially when you’re young, you come in and play freely, going for your shots. I think she has great potential and a great game."
This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Rybakina, tras un debut impecable: "Ahora me siento bien, pero veremos cómo me levanto mañana"