NEW YORK — Elena Rybakina didn’t even know if she was going to be able to play the US Open because of an ankle injury.
Just over two weeks later, she leaves New York as the champion and the new world No. 1.
In an impressive and improbable run, Rybakina rolled through the draw, defeating three former champions, and earned her third major title behind a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 victory over Aryna Sabalenka, who had been looking to complete the elusive three-peat at the tournament.
A furious Sabalenka slammed her racket in frustration after Rybakina sealed the match with an ace — her 12th of the day. Rybakina, known for her cool composure and even demeanor, raised her arms in triumph, and a wide smile briefly spread across her face. It was the conclusion to a triumphant major season for the 27-year-old, who had also won the Australian Open and become just the sixth woman to win both hard-court Slam titles in the same year.
Rybakina is also now just one French Open title away from completing the career Grand Slam.
After everything she had been through, and with all of the uncertainty of the past several weeks, no one was more surprised by Saturday’s result than Rybakina.
“It’s tough to find words right now, honestly,” Rybakina told the capacity crowd, which included Maria Sharapova, Brad Pitt, Elizabeth Banks and Andrew Garfield, during her victory speech. “I didn’t expect nothing like this coming to this tournament. I’ve been dealing a little bit with the injury, but somehow everything aligned together on my side.”
RYBAKINA OPENED THE 2026 Slam season much like she ended it — with a dominant, statement-making victory over Sabalenka in the Australian Open final. It marked her second major title, and first since winning Wimbledon in 2022, and put her back into the category of the game’s elite.
But, while there was a final appearance at Indian Wells and the title at Stuttgart, her natural-surface Slam appearances were disappointing. She lost in the second round at the French Open and the third round at Wimbledon. A return to the hard court seemed to get her back on track.
Rybakina made the final at the Canadian Open — with three set wins over Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff en route — and, with Sabalenka uncharacteristically slumping, found herself in a position to take over the top ranking as the tour headed to Cincinnati. Once Sabalenka was handed yet another early exit, in the Round of 16, Rybakina needed to reach the final to overtake her.
But in the quarterfinals, playing against Iga Swiatek, who defeated her in Toronto, Rybakina had to withdraw from the match with a left ankle injury. She has since called it a chronic problem but one that flared up due to a certain movement.
Her US Open campaign — and chance to become the world No. 1 — was suddenly in jeopardy. When she came to New York, it was unclear if she would be able to compete, and she was sidelined from practice for an entire week. “I was not touching my racket for seven days before the tournament,” she explained on ESPN on Saturday.
Rybakina had previously said for the first few days it was “painful to even walk.” She and her team consulted with multiple doctors — including one by phone nearly every day in Australia — and focused on her recovery. They did everything they could to get her healthy and able to compete.
Scheduled to start play on Tuesday, the third day of the main draw, Rybakina was grateful for the extra days to prepare. By the time of her first-round match, she said she was “feeling better on the court moving-wise.” It showed.
Rybakina didn’t drop a set in her first four matches. In the Round of 16, against Osaka, the two-time champion, she needed just over an hour to finish the job. She had seven aces, 29 winners — and just 17 unforced errors — in perhaps her most clinical showing of the tournament.
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Rybakina takes first set vs. Sabalenka in women’s final
“I was trying to swing a little bit more on her first serves, because the way that she plays, she immediately hits your return to the other side of the court,” Osaka said later. “So I was just trying to gain the upper hand on the first serve, but obviously, she’s one of the best servers in the world, so that was definitely really tough.”
Things weren’t quite as straightforward in the quarterfinals against Zheng Qinwen or in the semifinals against Gauff, the 2023 champion. In both matches, she lost the first set, 6-3, and needed to come back to force a decider. Against Gauff, a player as beloved as any on Ashe, Rybakina found herself with her back against the wall. Once holding a 4-1 lead in the second set, Gauff leveled it and looked to be on the verge of closing it out. But Rybakina battled back, winning the next two games and forcing a decider.
Rybakina got the hard-earned first break of the third set in the eighth game for a 5-3 lead. Gauff broke right back before Rybakina was ultimately able to put it away. The once-roaring crowd was all but silenced by the end.
“She does a great job of just being there every point and putting a lot of pressure on you on [her] service game and return game,” Gauff said after.
Simply by reaching the semifinal, Rybakina assured herself of the No. 1 ranking for the first time. She called it a “great achievement” later that day but insisted it wasn’t something she had thought about much. She said it would be something she would appreciate at the end of her career.
But she was a little bit more forthcoming on Saturday about the pressure she felt with that looming milestone.
“[There] was so much going on inside,” she said. “But I feel like when I played for [the] No. 1 ranking, it’s true it was a relief after because I achieved one goal. And then of course whatever happens after, you just try to play.”
On Saturday, in her 18th career meeting with Sabalenka, Rybakina was aggressive and focused from the beginning. She broke Sabalenka on her third service game of the opening set to take early control. Sabalenka, who struggled to hide her emotions throughout the match, raised her level in the second set, with both trading holds of serve for 11 consecutive games until Sabalenka got the much-needed break and forced a decider.
With the crowd largely behind Sabalenka, Rybakina remained steadfast. She got yet another early break, and clearly frustrated Sabalenka, who continued to gesture wildly to her team in apparent disbelief. From there, the conclusion felt all but inevitable.
“I’m obviously not really happy with the level I played today, but she served incredible,” Sabalenka told reporters just moments after leaving the court. “She played really aggressive, great tennis. Yeah, she was simply a better player today than me.”
It’s been a roller-coaster journey for the Kazakhstani star since her initial major win at the All England Club four years ago, filled with injuries and other health challenges, as well as a controversial relationship with her coach Stefano Vukov. The WTA suspended Vukov for much of the 2025 season for a breach of conduct, stemming from accusations that he had verbally abused Rybakina and had “cultivated a relationship of dependence.” The ban was lifted last August but his continued involvement has been heavily scrutinized. Vukov was in Rybakina’s player box on Saturday, as he’s been throughout the event. They hugged warmly after she had won, and she thanked him in her speech.
But despite all of the hurdles in recent years, and even in the weeks leading into the US Open, Saturday officially marked the ascent of Rybakina to the top of the sport with a shiny new trophy and the soon-to-be-released latest rankings. She now owns a more than 2,000-point lead in the rankings and has become the first player to clinch her spot in the year-end WTA Finals. Not to mention, she will enter the 2027 season with two major titles to defend and a slew of expectations. Sabalenka knows what all of that is like better than almost anyone.
Before she exited her press conference on Saturday night, Sabalenka was told how many weeks she had held the No. 1 ranking. She jokingly then issued a challenge to Rybakina.
“99? Well, that’s amazing,” Sabalenka said with a smile. “Let’s see if Elena can beat me in that. She continues to play like that, then yeah, I’m in trouble.”
