Elena Rybakina opens up about lack of media spotlight on her despite Grand Slam champion status, plans to keep on winning until acknowledgement
Elena Rybakina has quietly made her way into the fourth round of the 2023 Australian Open, playing on the outside courts at Melbourne Park, away from the glitz of the facility's magnificent showcourts.
The odd scheduling choice of not putting the reigning Wimbledon champion in a major stadium, however, has not been completely lost on tennis fans — some of whom have criticized the organizers for sidelining the 23-year-old and her ilk.
For Elena Rybakina, though, it hardly makes a difference as to where she is playing as long as she keeps progressing and showing good tennis.
Responding to a question about the scheduling at the Australian Open in her third-round post-match press conference, Rybakina admitted that things haven't always been easy when it comes to balancing her newfound status as Grand Slam champion. At the same time, she added that she did not pay too much attention to which court she was being made to play on.
"I honestly don't care because it wasn't easy after Wimbledon with the scheduling," Elena Rybakina said. "Of course, and everything."
"But in the end I'm here to play tennis," she continued. "I'm feeling good. So I'm super happy to get through to another match. Doesn't matter which court I'm going to play."
Instead, the Kazakh took the lack of media spotlight as inspiration to keep on winning, joking that maybe if she kept at it long enough, tournaments would acknowledge her as a Grand Slam champion and put her on the main courts more often.
"I guess it's a motivation to win even more," Rybakina said. "Maybe next time they're going to put me first match somewhere else, not the Court 13. As I said, it doesn't really matter. I just want to win as much as I can."
Rybakina battled into the fourth round on Friday, getting the better of last year's finalist Danielle Collins in a marathon tussle out on the Kia Arena. The Kazakh, who is the 22nd seed, prevailed 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.
"The goal is to beat the top players" - Elena Rybakina on facing Iga Swiatek next
Shifting focus to the task at hand, Elena Rybakina stated in no uncertain terms that she was excited to play the World No. 1 and top seed Iga Swiatek in the fourth round of the 2023 Australian Open.
The Kazakh revealed that her goal has always been to beat the best players in the world and that the match against Swiatek presented her with an opportunity to try and accomplish just that.
"To be honest, it doesn't matter which round I play because I think Iga is a great player. No matter what, the goal is to beat the top players," Elena Rybakina said. "If it's first, second round, the goal is to improve throughout the year. The year is actually long."
"Yeah, I think that it's going to be tough match. Hopefully it's going to go my way," she added.