WTA star hailed as ‘arguably the best player in the world’ ahead of Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek
Rennae Stubbs had a high form of praise for the WTA’s Elena Rybakiana.
The Kazak player made a promising start to the 2024 season, before things slowly went downhill and she did not feature for the majority of the season.
The 25-year-old made her return at the WTA Finals in November and won her last match of the campaign against none other than World number one Aryna Sabalenka.
Rybakina is now set to enter 2025 with a new coach and renewed focus and motivation, and Rennae Stubbs thinks she will be one to watch.
Rennae Stubbs has high form of praise for Elena Rybakina
Elena Rybakina is one of the WTA Tour’s most destructive players on top form. She possesses one of the best serves in addition to some of the most powerful groundstrokes in the game.
But issues and problems off court hampered Rybakina’s progress in 2024 and she was limited to just five matches after reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals.
But now Rybakina is back fit and working with new coach Goran Ivanesevic, Stubbs gave the World number five the ultimate compliment.
“I am looking forward to seeing what Rybakina can do. We know she had a very hard year in 2024,” Stubbs said on her self-titled ‘Rennae Rubbs podcast’.
“There was a lot going on and certainly something more than just injuries going on.There was a lot of other things she was dealing with.
“I am hoping with Goran we are going to see this player come through next year. All of us can agree that when she is at her best she is arguably the best player in the world. Her serve, her backhand, her groundstrokes. She can hit anyone off the court.”
Rennae Stubbs says what she thinks derailed Elena Rybakina at the start of 2024
Rybakina began 2024 by defeating Sabalenka for the loss of just three games.
She also chose to play the Adelaide International straight after, but lost in the quarter-finals before suffering a second-round loss at the Australian Open.
Stubbs slammed her decision to play two warm up events before heading to Melbourne Park. Rybakina missed plenty of time due to injuries and illness this year, but has backed her to some big moves in the WTA rankings if she can stay fit with few points to defend in the second half of the season.
“The way she smoked Sabalenka off the court at the start of this year in Brisbane and we know how dumb she was with her scheduling when she chose to go to Adelaide,” she said. “That really threw her back because she had the Achilles problem, because she played great at the start of the year.
“I am looking forward to seeing how emotionally and physically she is in 2025 as if she is at her best, look out. She could be the player with no points to defend, certainly not mid through to the last part of this year.”
