Elena Rybakina lifted her third Grand Slam title at the US Open and rose to world No. 1 just weeks after her participation was in serious doubt because of an Achilles injury. The 27-year-old revealed she did not touch a racket for seven days before the tournament and had an MRI scan on arrival in New York.
Injury doubt before triumph
Rybakina retired just five games into her quarter-final match at last month's Cincinnati Open with the Achilles problem, prompting questions over whether she would compete at Flushing Meadows. She then went on an impressive run in New York, beating Naomi Osaka, Qinwen Zheng, Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka in her last four matches to claim the title.
Speaking to ESPN, Rybakina said the US Open was in doubt for her. "Well, it wasn't the best time, for sure, because I was so upset. I didn't know actually how it's going to be day by day," she said of the days after her Cincinnati Open retirement.
MRI scan and recovery plan
"We arrive to New York. We did MRI. It didn't look that great. We had to talk with a lot of doctors to get opinion what we should do. I was lucky enough to have very good doctor. She's in Australia. She was on the phone with us all the time, and somehow with the team we made a plan, and we were sticking to it, every day discussing what we can do."
The plan involved staying off the practice courts for several days, focusing on rehabilitation and fitness instead. "Yeah, for seven days I was just going from my hotel room to the gym, three hours there spending, a lot of recovery, treatments," she added. "Yeah, couple dinners to also a little bit switch the mind. We went first day I think when we arrived to the cinema. After that, I just continued to work, but unfortunately, not on the court."
Victory speech and prize
Rybakina mentioned her injury during her victory speech as she collected a prize cheque of approximately £4million ($5.5million). "It's tough to find words right now," she said. "Honestly, didn't expect nothing like this coming to this tournament, I've been dealing a little bit with an injury but somehow everything came together and on my side."
