"It's just not easy to balance it out" - Elena Rybakina lays bare difficulty in focusing on tennis with persistent illness as she reaches Wimbledon 2R
Elena Rybakina has faced issues owing to illness throughout this season. During a recent Wimbledon press conference, the Kazakh player opened up about the difficulties of balancing health and tennis.
Rybakina has withdrawn from multiple tournaments citing illness this year. After a successful start to the season with a triumph in Brisbane and Abu Dhabi, she had to withdraw from the quarterfinal of the Dubai Tennis Championships due to illness.
Later on, she withdrew from the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and the Italian Open citing illness. More recently, she retired from her quarterfinal match against Victoria Azarenka at the Ecotrans Ladies Open in Berlin early in the first set citing an abdominal injury.
She cut her grass court preparation short and traveled to participate in Wimbledon. At SW19, the 2022 champion earned a winning start as she got the better of Romanian player Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 6-1 with the help of three aces and 16 winners.
During her post-match press conference, Rybakina was asked about how she is managing her health and tennis this season. The Kazakh opened up about the difficulties she is facing in doing so.
"Well it's not easy because sometimes you have more energy and you want to do some interesting stuff, sometimes you are too tired and you just want to be on the couch after the matches," Rybakina said. "It's just not easy to balance it out and your wishes and also be prepared for the next day. So, I mean it's just you're trying to balance it out really."
"Every day is a challenge" - Elena Rybakina feels the tennis season's schedule makes life tougher
Elena Rybakina was also asked in the media interaction if she feels pressure as one of the top players because everyone is hoping to beat her and cause an upset. The World No. 4 said she knows the challenge, noting that she herself was once in the position of wanting to be a top player when younger.
However, she believes the schedule is an added pressure.
"It's not easy, I think the year is tough schedule-wise and I've been playing a lot so every day is a challenge," Elena Rybakina said.
The 2022 champion has breached the first round of Wimbledon for the fourth consecutive year. She will take on German player Laura Siegemund in the second round at SW19 on Thursday, July 4. Rybakina leads their head-to-head record 4-1.