Elena Rybakina reveals she dealt with some major insomnia throughout the 2023 and 2024 seasons, and she says the scheduling of her matches was the biggest thing that led to her developing sleeping issues.
After becoming a Grand Slam champion at 2022 Wimbledon and finishing as runner-up at the 2023 Australian Open, Rybakina firmly established herself as one of the best players in the game. But then, the Kazakh tennis star started missing certain tournaments and being out for certain periods. And for some of her withdrawals, only an illness was listed as the cause.
Last year, Rybakina pulled out just before her US Open second-round. This year, world No. 10 has been routinely through to the third round at Flushing Meadows after not dropping a single set. Also, the 2022 Wimbledon winner is coming off one of her best wins of the season after dominating Emma Raducanu 6-1 6-2 on Friday.
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When addressing her flawless display against Raducanu and slowly resembling her usual self, the 26-year-old decided to open up about her health issues from the previous seasons.
Rybakina: I had big issues with insomnia... I was playing so many night session matches
"I had big issues with insomnia. I think 2023 as a whole year was pretty tough for me. I played a lot, and we had a different schedule. I was playing many night sessions, and we didnt yet have the rule that you cant go on court after 11, so I had a lot of late matches. With the Billie Jean King Cup that season, it was kind of long. Then going into 2024, I started again pretty well, but I was playing so many tournaments until almost the end of the season. My insomnia was there, and I was struggling almost the whole year, Rybakina revealed.
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In the same presser, the Kazakh confirmed that "it is much better now."
In the US Open round-of-16, Rybakina will clash against Marketa Vondrousova.
