Rybakina surprising herself with physically demanding run in Miami

Elena Rybakina went into the Miami Open with low expectations, but she has survived a whole host of competitive matches to earn her place in the championship match.

Elena Rybakina, Miami 2024 | © Julien Nouet for Tennis Majors

Ricky Dimon

March 29, 2024

Elena Rybakina had already endured a trio of three-set matches at the Miami Open. Why not play another?

That’s exactly what Rybakina did on Thursday afternoon, holding off Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 (2) in a semi-final match that lasted two hours and 33 minutes. After missing the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells because of an illness, the Kazakh arrived in Miami well less than 100 percent from a physical standpoint but has somehow managed to make it all the way to the title match.

I was not expecting, honestly, to be in the final.
Elena Rybakina

Even Rybakina, herself, doesn’t know how she has done it.

“I was not expecting, honestly, to be in the final,” said Rybakina, who finished runner-up to Petra Kvitova last year in Miami, “because I was not prepared that well for this tournament. But (I’m) really happy that I managed to battle through all these matches and be in the final again.

“I’m just really proud how mentally I could still push myself even though it was really difficult from the beginning (of the tournament). In the beginning, these long matches were helping me to get back in shape. Now I’m not in shape just because I’m tired of all these long matches, but overall it [has been] really successful tournament no matter how I do in the final.”

“Sometimes in the tournaments you need to be lucky, and I think this tournament I’m a little bit luckier than maybe usual because I had so many tough matches (in) three sets. So I’m taking all the chances I can, and hopefully I will do my best in the final.”

RYBAKINA TRYING TO STAY POSITIVE

Rybakina will never be one to show a whole lot of positive emotion. Heck, she barely even celebrated outwardly when she won Wimbledon in 2022. The 24-year-old isn’t about to start doing it in Miami.

The key, by Rybakina’s own admission, isn’t to react to success with fist pumps or enthusiastic shouts; it’s to prevent from being negative when things aren’t going her way. That is especially important during a tournament in which she does not have any extra energy to use.

“Sometimes you can notice that I’m also negative,” Rybakina noted. “Of course I need to maybe bring more positive energy and to show the opponent. But I think this tournament, as I said, it’s just such difficult for me physically that the only thing I was thinking (was) not to be negative — because (in the) first matches I was a little bit.

“Now I knew that I cannot lose energy on these kind of things. I was just trying to keep calm (against Azarenka) and just focus on every point, because I knew that’s the only way to get through this.”