Elena Rybakina admits reaching the world No. 1 is "definitely a goal" but also underlines that the season is too long and she will need to perform consistently to achieve the rankings goal.
The Kazakh, who achieved a career-high ranking of No. 3 for the first time in June 2023, struggled with her form and consistency in the first part of 2025, which led to a top-10 exit. However, since winning last year's WTA Finals and Ningbo, as well as lifting this year's Australian Open title, she has returned to the world No. 3 in the world.
Currently, Rybakina has 275 ranking points fewer than world No. 2 Iga Swiatek and trails top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka by 3.337 ranking points.
Considering that Rybakina didn't do particularly well in the first part of 2025, she definitely has a chance to at least overtake Swiatek and reach the world No. 2 for the first time. But while getting to No. 2 would be a notable milestone, the two-time Grand Slam champion has a clear ranking goal she would like to achieve.
Rybakina: Becoming the world No. 1 is definitely a goal… But it also depends on how other players do
“Well, it’s definitely a goal. But depends of course how the other players are going to compete and what results are going to be. The season is so long that I know there is no time to stop, stop working. You need to improve every day. We have so many tournaments. Yeah, you need to catch up and you need to keep on going,” the world No. 3 said in her pre-tournament press conference in Dubai.
Last year, Rybakina reached the Dubai semifinal. While she has a solid number of points to defend, she is the No. 1 seed following Sabalenka and Swiatek's withdrawals.
As the top seed, the Kazakh tennis star had a first-round bye in the second WTA 1000 tournament of the year. She will meet qualifier Kimberley Birrell in the second round.
If Rybakina wins Dubai, she will replace Swiatek as No. 2 on Monday.
