WTA Finals Champion Elena Rybakina's Year in Review

But it wasn’t an entirely smooth year for the WTA Tour’s runaway ace leader. We cast an eye back to her campaign. 

Coaching uncertainty 

Rybakina has long praised her coach, Stefano Vukov, who began working with the Kazakh in 2019. The WTA handed Vukov, though, a provisional suspension for a potential breach of conduct, which meant he wasn’t allowed to be in her box for most of the year. 

In came Rybakina’s fellow Wimbledon champion, Goran Ivanisevic — possessed with a similarly bulldozing serve during his playing days — but the partnership didn’t last beyond the Australian swing. A longer tenure ensued with former Italian pro Davide Sanguinetti, but they split in September. 

By that time, Vukov returned and watched Rybakina author a six-match winning streak during the Asian swing to overtake Mirra Andreeva for the final spot at the WTA Finals. 

Change to the norm

“It was a bit tough for me, the beginning of the year. I feel I used to play much better the first part of the year, usually. But it took me some time to get back to the level I want to be. I think that now I’m happy with how the things are going and hopefully I can change a little bit what was happening in the past years and play even better the second half of the year.”

That was Rybakina at the National Bank Open in Montreal in August. She did indeed pick it up in the second half, highlighted by her performance at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. Rybakina beat Amanda Anisimova, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula and in the final, Aryna Sabalenka, 6-3 7-6 (0). 

It was the first time at WTA level that Sabalenka — who earlier in 2025 won 19 straight tiebreaks — had been blanked in a ‘breaker. Sabalenka was the last player to beat Rybakina, in Wuhan in early October. 

Grand Slam struggles 

Winning the year-end championships doesn’t guarantee starting the next year with a flourish. Players who play plenty in an effort to qualify for the year-end finals, then go deep at the Finals, sometimes find it hard to get going again. 

Rybakina will hope that won’t be the case, especially since by her lofty standards, her Grand Slam results underwhelmed.

Read also: Victoria Mboko, Félix Auger-Aliassime named Tennis Canada's 2025 Players of the Year

For the first time since 2020 — when Rybakina began the year ranked just inside the Top 40, then saw her early momentum quashed by the Covid shutdown — she didn’t make a quarterfinal at a major. 

Taking a closer look at what happened to Rybakina at the majors, none of her losses would be called major upsets.

A surging Madison Keys topped Rybakina in Melbourne, and the recent queen at Roland Garros, Swiatek, beat her in Paris. Clara Tauson — right up there in power on tour — took out Rybakina at Wimbledon before a Grand Slam winner and Olympic silver medalist, Marketa Vondrousova, eliminated Rybakina in New York. (It’s an indication of the depth in the women’s game.) 

Rybakina, however, was the higher-ranked player in three of the four losses. 

Battles with Canadians 

Two of Rybakina’s semifinal outings against Canadians had to be among the matches of the season — both going against her. 

Laval’s Leylah Fernandez edged Rybakina in a rare three-tiebreak tussle in Washington, just ahead of the NBO. Fernandez broke Rybakina as she served for the match in the second set to kickstart her comeback.

Then at the NBO, Victoria Mboko’s surprising fortnight included a three-set win against Rybakina in the final four. Rybakina twice failed to serve out the match in the final set, even holding a match point on serve at 5-4.

Read also: Catching up with 2025 NBO Montreal Champion Victoria Mboko

Rybakina went on to beat both players in Tokyo, clinching her spot at the WTA Finals by upending Mboko in the quarterfinals.

The WTA's best return to Toronto next summer for the National Bank Open presented by Rogers Aug 1 to 13 at Sobeys Stadium. Click here for information about tickets.

Feature Photo: WTA