Elena Rybakina reveals why she rejected colleges in the United States in favor of continuing her professional tennis career
Elena Rybakina reportedly received a lot of offers from colleges in America to play tennis for them. The Kazakh, however, rejected those offers to go pro immediately because she wanted to stay close to home.
Rybakina started playing tennis at the age of six and played her first match on the ITF circuit at the age of 15. During a press conference at Indian Wells last year, Rybakina stated that she had a lot of offers to play college tennis in the USA.
She passed on the decision-making to her father who shortlisted a few options. However, Rybakina chose none.
Rybakina was recently defeated in the semifinal of the 2024 Madrid Open by Aryna Sabalenka. She traveled to Rome soon after to participate in the Italian Open.
During the 2024 Italian Open press conference, Rybakina was asked why she thought going pro immediately was a better option. She said:
"Well, it was a choice for me kind of to go, to study in America and everything, but I didn't really want to go. Yeah, I decided to try and keep on playing."
Rybakina added that she was not keen on going far from home:
"Well, I just didn't want to go far from home, yeah."
In October 2017, Rybakina made her WTA Tour debut in Moscow. Soon after turning 20, she earned her first WTA Tour title at the 2019 Bucharest Open.
Since then, Rybakina has won an impressive 7 singles titles, including her emphatic Wimbledon triumph in 2022.
Elena Rybakina is excited to defend her Italian Open title this year
Although it was not the prettiest of victories as her opponent Anhelina Kalinina retired early on in the second set in the final, Elena Rybakina's latest WTA 1000 win was the 2023 Italian Open. Before that, Ryabkina won the 2023 Indian Wells Open but could not defend it this year due to injury.
During a press conference ahead of the Italian Open, Ryabkina was asked if she was excited to finally get a chance to defend her title.
"Yes, I mean, I like playing. I want to keep on going. I think, Why not?" Rybakina responded.
The World No. 4 is going to face stiff competition from the usual suspects. Aryna Sabalenka is paired with Elena Rybakina in the 2024 Italian Open draw. If the pair scrape through the first few rounds, they will set up a semifinal showdown.
On the other side of the draw, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff are expected to meet in the semifinal if they do not encounter defeat.