Elena Rybakina gained the U.S. Open girls’s singles match final week, defeating reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka within the last face-off. Now, the 27-year-old is ranked the primary feminine participant on this planet. However simply 10 years in the past, the Moscow-born Gen Zer was at a crossroads: go to varsity, or keep centered on her profession as a tennis participant. Even defying her father’s needs for her to remain in schooling.
“I completed college and I needed to determine if I ought to go to varsity,” the U.S. Open champion instructed the Girls’s Tennis Affiliation in 2020.
“My dad needed me to go to varsity as a result of he was fearful. He noticed the outcomes, however it was tough for us financially. It’s not straightforward. Like each mum or dad, he was fearful if I received injured.” Plus, her father reasoned that she may get a “higher schooling” overseas.
“I had provides to universities in America, however I didn’t even give it some thought as a result of I needed to maintain taking part in. I had like 15 provides. My dad actually needed me to go.”
In the end, Rybakina selected the uncertainty {of professional} tennis over the safety of a faculty schooling—and that call set her on a path that might ultimately make her a three-time Grand Slam champion, scoring 14 singles titles throughout 10 nations. “Due to tennis, I may get a greater schooling,” she added.
Altering her citizenship and changing into a world champion, incomes $11.4 million
As soon as Rybakina had made the choice to skip faculty and proceed her tennis profession, she made one other pivotal alternative that might form her skilled journey. The athlete had been taking part in for Russia up till that time, however in 2018 she switched federations to Kazakhstan—and even modified her citizenship. The Central Asian nation supplied the then-19-year-old funding and assist to develop her profession.
Rybakina has made main strides in her decade-long profession as a tennis professional. For years, she labored her approach up via the ITF Circuit and WTA qualifying. In 2019, she ended the 12 months ranked No. 36 for her first High 100 end and profitable her maiden WTA title at Bucharest.
Only one 12 months into coaching with a non-public coach, she started turning that regular progress right into a breakthrough run on the WTA Tour; she broke via in 2020, taking part in in 5 tour finals, greater than every other participant that 12 months. Rybakina later snagged her first main title on the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, and in 2023, reached the 2023 Australian Open last.
From there, Rybakina’s profession—and her incomes energy—continued to speed up.
Rybakina capped off final 12 months by profitable the 2025 WTA Finals undefeated, incomes $5.235 million for her victory—which was the most important prize-money payout within the historical past of girls’s sport on the time. By now she had a number of titles underneath her belt in addition to a slew of brand name sponsorships, together with the likes of Nike, Adidas, and Crimson Bull.
And 2026 has been Rybakina’s greatest 12 months but.
Earlier this 12 months, she clinched her main title, profitable the Australian Open. And only one week in the past, following her within the U.S. Open Grand Slam victory, the Gen Zer took over Sabalenka’s No. 1 rating, which the Belarusian held on to for practically two full years.
At the moment, Rybakina is the tenth highest-paid tennis star on this planet, in accordance with Forbes, incomes $11.4 million on the courtroom and $6 million off-court. And by profitable the U.S. Open girls’s singles, Rybakina introduced house one other $5.5 million in prize cash.
“Actually, I didn’t count on [anything] like this coming from this match,” Rybakina mentioned after her latest New York Metropolis match win. “I’ve been dealing a bit of bit with damage, however someway every thing aligned on my facet…I used to be coming right here for the final 10 years, and it was by no means profitable. Nothing near that, and it’s simply unbelievable.”
Later this 12 months, the 27-year-old can be slated to compete within the WTA Finals to reclaim her championship title. After a season that has already delivered two Grand Slam titles, a record-setting payday, and the world No. 1 rating, Rybakina is on a tear within the tennis world.
If she didn’t forgo the prospect to go to varsity within the U.S., it’s unsure if she would have lived the identical whirlwind success.
