Elena Rybakina arrived in New York unable to walk without pain after injuring her foot. She leaves the city as the US Open champion and new world number one.
Kazakhstan’s Rybakina produced a brilliant performance to beat two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka 6-4 5-7 6-2 in Saturday’s final and repeat her Australian Open success against the same player in January.
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Clutching the trophy on Saturday night, Rybakina reflected that “some magic is happening” for her after her difficult lead-in to the tournament.
The 27-year-old aggravated a foot injury during her quarter-final in Cincinnati against Iga Swiatek last month, a little over a week before the final major of the year began.
Playing on through injury could have had dire consequences for the rest of her season – but Rybakina, knowing the top ranking was in her grasp, wanted to try and play in the final Grand Slam of the year.
“I was so upset. I didn’t know actually how it was going to be day by day,” she said.
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“We arrived in New York and did an MRI. It didn’t look that great.
“I couldn’t even walk for the next few days without pain.
“I was lucky enough to have a very good doctor in Australia. She was on the phone with us all the time and somehow, with the team, we made a plan.”
Rybakina did not do any on-court training for a week, but daily recovery sessions in the gym – plus trips for dinner and to the cinema to “switch the mind” – helped get her ready for another major triumph.
She won her first four matches at Flushing Meadows without dropping a set, including seeing off four-time major winner Naomi Osaka.
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Her run from then on – which included beating Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the quarter-finals, outlasting third seed Coco Gauff in the semis and outplaying top seed Sabalenka in the final – was nothing short of outstanding.
“I was so unlucky with the injury, but I’m very proud,” Rybakina said.
“I still can’t believe it.”
Composed Rybakina ‘like a machine’
Rybakina had already been confirmed as world number one by reaching the semi-finals in New York. The fact that her final opponent was Sabalenka, the player she will replace at the top of the rankings, added an extra dimension to Saturday’s championship match.
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Rybakina won the first set despite her serve, one of her biggest weapons, misfiring.
She landed only 27% of her first serves during the opener, but still won 22 of 30 points behind her serve and did not face a break point as she took the lead.
Sabalenka eventually broke in the 12th game of the second set to send their match the distance, but it was Rybakina who dominated the decider.
While her Belarusian opponent grew visibly more frustrated as the final slipped away, Rybakina remained remarkably composed.
“The way she [Rybakina] quietly walks around, she doesn’t really lift her head up and she gives no emotion away whatsoever,” former British number one Annabel Croft said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
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“Rybakina is like a machine out there. You never know what’s going on in her head.”
However, nerves did show when Rybakina threw in two double faults as she served for the title.
At 40-30, the trophy in her sights, Rybakina could have blinked. Instead, she coolly sent down her 12th ace of the match to secure her third Grand Slam title.
The second seed produced her biggest celebration of her three major wins – a smile and both arms raised in celebration as she took in the applause.
Rybakina has now won two of her three Grand Slam finals against Sabalenka, all of which have come on their favoured hard courts.
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‘She will win many more Slams’
Rybakina made early exits at this year’s French Open and Wimbledon, but won both hard-court Grand Slams in 2026 [Getty Images]
On Monday, Rybakina will become the 30th different women to top the world rankings.
She is a different personality to Sabalenka, who held the position for the past 99 weeks, but Croft believes she will “take it in her stride”.
“I actually think she has the right personality to deal with it,” Croft said.
“There are going to be a lot of players around her nipping at her heels. She can fluctuate with her levels, but when it really matters, we’ve seen her be able to bring it to the table.
“It’s not going to be easy to hang on to it. I think women’s tennis is really exciting right now.”
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Rybakina has completed three parts of the career Grand Slam, with just a French Open victory missing from her collection.
After winning Wimbledon in 2022, she did not claim her second major until January’s Australian Open, and has now added a third in New York.
She has never previously been further than the quarter-finals at Roland Garros, although she did win a WTA 1,000 event on clay in Rome in 2023.
Former British number one Laura Robson said on Sky Sports: “She is an all-surface player – clay is the worst one, but when you get her on something that’s quite lively or quick, she’s unplayable at times.
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“I genuinely think she will win many more Slams. I just don’t see, when her serve and return are on, how pretty much anyone can beat her on a hard court.”
