What changes: Elena Rybakina will become the world number one on Monday after beating Aryna Sabalenka 6-4 5-7 6-2 to win the US Open. The Kazakh player lifted the trophy in New York having arrived at the tournament battling a foot injury that left her unable to walk without pain.
Rybakina aggravated the problem during her Cincinnati quarter-final against Iga Swiatek a little over a week before the final major of the year. She and her team had an MRI on arrival in New York that "didn't look that great," she said, and for several days she "couldn't even walk". She paused on-court practice for a week, relied on daily recovery sessions in the gym and used off-court routines including trips for dinner and to the cinema to keep focused while medical staff and her team managed the problem.
Her tournament run was decisive. Rybakina won her first four matches at Flushing Meadows without dropping a set, including a victory over Naomi Osaka, then beat Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the quarter-finals and outlasted third seed Coco Gauff in the semis. In the final she imposed herself despite an inconsistent serve early on, landing only 27% of first serves in the opening set yet still winning 22 of 30 points behind her serve and avoiding a break point as she took the lead.
Sabalenka forced a decider by breaking for 5-7 in the second set, but Rybakina dominated the third. Nerves appeared when she double-faulted twice while serving for the title, but she closed the match at 40-30 with her 12th ace. After securing the win she reflected that "some magic is happening" following her difficult lead-in.
Rybakina's victory completes a third Grand Slam title, adding to her 2022 Wimbledon crown and January's Australian Open, and on Monday she will become the 30th woman to top the rankings. Annabel Croft said of her composure, "Rybakina is like a machine out there. You never know what's going on in her head." Laura Robson assessed her surfaces: "She is an all-surface player - clay is the worst one, but when you get her on something that's quite lively or quick, she's unplayable at times." Croft also warned, "There are going to be a lot of players around her nipping at her heels."
What happens next is clear: Rybakina inherits a position Sabalenka has held for the past 99 weeks, and the new ranking will test whether she can sustain top form across surfaces, with Roland Garros the one major still missing from her collection.
