The women’s singles champion is delighted at collecting her first major but less pleased with the attendant limelight
lena Rybakina has not been to Kazakhstan since April and the next time she will wear her country’s colours on her back will be in the Billie Jean King Cup in Glasgow in November. Though she still lives in Moscow, having switched her allegiance from Russia in 2018, her history-making victory in the Wimbledon final on Saturday will surely make her a household name in her adopted country. Moreover,could also spark a surge of interest in tennis in Kazakhstan and inspire the next generation.
“Everybody is trying to help me because it’s the first time and there is so much attention,” she said. “It’s not easy for me, because I’m a calm person. I don’t really like to be in front of everybody. This part of the job is still tough for me, but hopefully everybody will help me improve in this, like I did in tennis. Let’s see. Hopefully it will get better and better.”
The relationship between Vukov, from Croatia, and Rybakina has been instrumental to her success. When he first took over in 2019 she was ranked about 200 but had big dreams, and big goals. “She came to me and she said, I want to be No 1 in the world,” he recalled. “I was like, OK, take it easy a little bit. See if you can win an [ITF] $25,000. She wins two straight tournaments in a row, just to prove me wrong. I kind of saw that little competition between me and her, that it was working.
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