Wimbledon champ Rybakina reveals ‘physical & emotional’ toll
Russian-born tennis sensation Elena Rybakina has had to pull out of an event to celebrate her Wimbledon women's singles title win in Kazakhstan's largest city while citing physical overwork and emotional stress.
With her impressive win over Ons Jabeur, the 23-year-old Rybakina became the first ever Grand Slam champion representing Kazakhstan and also took home £2 million ($2.4 million) in prize money for her troubles.
On Wednesday, she was set to "share the joy of our victory at Wimbledon" with those in Kazakhstan's largest city of Almaty, but issued a social media message saying she was skipping the occasion.
This was due to "physical overwork and emotional stress" affecting the youngster's well-being which has forced her to "take a break to recover."
"I will definitely come to your wonderful city next time," she vowed on Instagram, while thanking fans for their understanding and support.
On Tuesday, Rybakina had been in the country's capital, NurSultan, where she spoke to the media and was honored by Kazakhstan's prime minister, Alikhan Smailov.
Video footage has also emerged of Rybakina being mobbed by adoring children who hugged her as she had the Wimbledon women's trophy in tow.
Awh pic.twitter.com/kpDnSASmVi
— 🕯 (@stephenspenko) July 13, 2022
Rybakina will need to rest after revealing plans to soon start preparing for tournaments that will be held in the United States such as the US Open, where her fellow Muscovite Daniil Medvedev is the defending men's champion.
Medvedev is also top of the pile in the men's game with a number one ATP ranking, and Rybakina harbors plans to match his feats in the female side of the sport too.
"This year the goal was to get into the world top 10. The ultimate goal is to be number one. I will strive for this and work," she vowed on Tuesday.
While Medvedev was not allowed to compete at Wimbledon due its ban on Russians, Rybakina was free to do so after taking Kazakh citizenship in 2018.
She showed off her passport from the former Soviet country on Tuesday, while a back-and-forth continues between Russian and Kazakh tennis chiefs over who takes credit for Rybakina's development.
As the WTA and ATP took away ranking points from the Grand Slam in response to the Russian ban, Rybakina was not allowed to improve on her world number 23 ranking spot.
