Elena Rybakina at the pinnacle of Women’s Tennis – How did she do it?

Elena Rybakina became the first professional player from Kazakhstan to reach the top of the PIF WTA Singles rankings when she won her quarter-final match against Chinese opponent Qinwen Zheng at the recently concluded US Open. As confirmed by the WTA, Elena Rybakina became the new women’s No.1 player in the world when the new rankings were released on 14th September 2026. 

Rybakina has upstaged Aryna Sabalenka who held the ranking for 99 weeks. This is an amazing achievement indeed as she becomes the 30th Women’s Singles World No. 1 since the rankings were initially introduced in 1975 as she joins a list of some illustrious greats like Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova to name a few. So how did she travel the long road to the No.1 spot? 

Rybakina rose through the ranks, playing the junior ITF circuit and then joined the WTA tour in 2019. She won her first WTA tournament at the Bucharest Open (WTA 250) and broke into the Top 100 rankings. Her claim to fame arrived at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships where she went on to win her first Grand Slam title defeating Ons Jabeur in the final in three sets. Rybakina reached another Slam final at the 2023 Australian Open but lost to Aryna Sabalenka in three sets. Rybakina also won two WTA 1000 titles since then – Indian Wells (2023) and the Italian Open (2023).  

Most of 2025 had been underwhelming for Rybakina as she failed to reach a single grand slam quarter-final and had only won one WTA 500 tournament in Strasbourg until the Ningbo Open. She was ranked in the Top 10 but wasn’t assured of a spot in the year-ending WTA Finals. Rybakina got to work, won the WTA 500 Ningbo Open and played in the Pan-Pacific Open to secure the last remaining spot in the year-ending WTA Finals before withdrawing from the Tokyo Open after reaching the semi-finals there as well. 

Although Rybakina qualified late for the WTA Finals, she went on a winning run, defeating four Top-10 players enroute to the prestigious title, defeating the World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets in the final. As poorly as her year had started, Rybakina ended 2025 ranked World No. 5. She then faced familiar foe Sabalenka in the final of the 2026 Australian Open and went on to lift her second grand slam title, breaking into the Top 3 rankings. She reached another final at Indian Wells but lost to Sabalenka in three sets. Rybakina also reached the semi-finals at the Miami Open but lost to Sabalenka again as the Belarussian won the Sunshine double. 

Rybakina won her second title at the Stuttgart Open, defeating Karolina Muchova in the final. The Kazakh player then went through an underwhelming clay court and grass court season after that. Rybakina couldn’t even get through to the fourth round of the French Open and Wimbledon. However, Sabalenka couldn’t take any advantage and increase the difference in points as she suffered a loss in form herself. 

Rybakina found her form again in the North American hard-court swing, reaching the final of the National Bank Open and quarter-finals at the Cincinnati Masters before retiring due to an achilles injury. There were doubts about her participation in the competition but she confirmed that she will play the last grand slam of the year. 

As the 2025 season had drawn to a close, the gap had looked massive: Sabalenka had 9870 points to Rybakina’s 4350 points. Nine months later, it was down to a mere 414 points going into the US Open and for the first time, Rybakina had a clear shot at the No.1 ranking. 

She had to reach the US Open semi-finals in order to secure the World No.1 ranking which she did in some style. Rybakina won all her matches until the quarter-finals in straight sets. Under huge pressure from the media and the outside world, Rybakina secured the ranking by beating Qinwen Zheng after having gone a set down. She went on to beat the home favourite Coco Gauff in the semi-finals and then defeated the defending champion Aryna Sabalenka to secure a third Grand Slam title, showing everyone why she deserves to be the World No.1. 

Rybakina has been one of the most intriguing characters in women’s tennis. While there are some players like Sabalenka and Coco Gauff who are really effervescent and outgoing, she is shy and introverted and rarely gives you a look inside her thoughts. Whether she is winning or losing, she hardly shows any emotions on the court. She is a very aggressive player with the best serve on the WTA Tour and a powerful baseline game. 

There was never a doubt about Rybakina’s quality and potential as a top player, it was more to do with mentality and fitness. She seems to have sorted out both those issues this year, showing amazing consistency and a fighting spirit that was lacking in earlier seasons. It’s indeed a scary proposition for her rivals as Rybakina is starting to find her best tennis and this could just be the start of her reign at the top of Women’s tennis.