LONDON: Elena Rybakina moseyed across the grounds of the All-England Club, taking in the sights on the weekend before the start. The rush of fellow players, staff scurrying around, placing pots and setting up shops. The 24-year-old defending champion had her smile for company.
Rybakina came into Wimbledonunannounced last year. Ranked 23 in the world, she went on to take the title.In 2023, the wiry Kazakh, along with the BelarusianAryna Sabalenka, gave the top of the women\u2019s game a new-found solidity in challenging Iga Swiatek\u2019s reign.
Sabalenka and Rybakina, the second and third seeds, are in the bottom half of the draw. The Kazakh, who appears to be struggling with the last remnants of a virus she caught in Paris, logging just the one win in her grass court build-up, has a tricky path ahead of her. Rybakina opens against American Shelby Rogers, who won the pair\u2019s last meeting in \u2019s-Hertogenbosch 12 months ago. The defending champion leads the head-to-head 3-2.
Rybakina has Ons Jabeur in her quarter, and should the two make the last eight, it would be a repeat of last year\u2019s final.
Not only is the Kazakh contending with the pressures of defending a major title, even though it came without crucial ranking points, but she\u2019s also battling fitness woes. As much as last year\u2019s Wimbledon was Rybakina\u2019s coming out party, Sabalenka was threatening to make the 2023 season her own, when she charged into the Roland Garros semifinals.<\/p>\n
In January, she won her maiden Grand Slam title.
The 25-year-old didn\u2019t blame her French Open loss to Karolina Muchova on the intense pressure she was under in the pressroom, where the questions, with a definite political slant, appeared to overstep.
But for those in the know, it was obvious that her struggles on the court wasn\u2019t about forehands and backhands. The world No. 2 ran up a 5-2 lead in the decider against Muchova and even had a match point in that semifinal.<\/p>\n
Sabalenka, returning to Wimbledon for the first time after her run into the last-four here in 2021, said she won\u2019t be taking any more political questions.
“Before we continue, I would like to say I\u2019m not going to talk about politics. I\u2019m here to talk about tennis only,\u201d she said, adding, \u201cIf you have any political questions, you can ask WTA or the tournament. They can send you the transcript of my answers from the previous tournaments.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n