Elena Rybakina suffered a little hiccup after her Australian Open victory as the 26-year-old caught a cold as soon as she returned home.
Nine days ago, the Kazakh tennis star lifted her second Grand Slam title after beating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-4 4-6 6-4 in the final at Melbourne Park.
After winning the Happy Slam, Rybakina shared with reporters that she was planning to celebrate her major achievement with her team and family. Unfortunately, those plans were a bit ruined.
Rybakina: On the way home, I had a cold
“On the way home, I had a cold, so I had to really rest a couple days and didn’t do much. I had to unpack my bags and the time flew like this, so I’m here (laughing). But now I think, it’s a good momentum to try to keep going,” the 26-year-old revealed during her pre-tournament press conference in Doha.
Fellow Australian Open finalist Sabalenka withdrew from Doha. Had Rybakina done the same, there would not have been anything too surprising, considering that the turnaround between the Happy Slam and the Qatar Open is just a week.
With Sabalenka out of Doha, Iga Swiatek got the No. 1 seeding, while Rybakina is seeded at No. 2.
The Kazakh tennis star enters the Qatar Open riding a seven-match winning streak – and while her preparation for the opening WTA 1000 tournament has been all but ideal – she is hoping to continue her positive run.
“I’m happy to be back and looking forward to playing. Of course it’s been not much time since Australian Open, but I had some time to rest. I think it’s good for me to start here, to still try to keep the momentum, and hopefully I can play well here,” the No. 2 seed added.
Rybakina has a first-round bye in Doha and plays against Wang Xinyu or Emiliana Arango in round two.
