Elena Rybakina on rejecting college tennis: I was stubborn, wanted to play pro
Elena Rybakina confirmed she received offers to attend college in the United States but she wasn’t that interested since she wanted to try herself on the pro level. Rybakina, 23, turned pro in 2016. When Rybakina received offers to play college tennis in the United States, she left it to her dad to decide which colleges were the best.
In the end, Rybakina declined all of the offers and turned pro. Today, Rybakina is a Grand Slam champion and a top-10 player. “I honestly don’t remember, because I was so stubborn and I wanted to try myself in the profession.
When I got all these offers, I just gave everything to my dad, so he was checking, analyzing. He, I think, picked like three of them which he liked, but I don’t remember,” Rybakina recalled in Indian Wells.
Rybakina would like to stay more in one place
Also in Indian Wells, Rybakina was asked what she would change in tennis if she had a chance to make a change.
“Good question. I really love tennis, so I’m enjoying to play. This is the most important thing. Change? I would probably say that we travel a lot and would be nicer to stay maybe at one place a bit longer. Schedule is not easy, especially the last few years, I would say.
Maybe just the schedule, the traveling, yeah,” Rybakina explained. Then, Rybakina was asked if she could stay in one place, which place would it be. “Not only one place but just not to have very — not to have big tournaments in completely different continents.
Like end of the last year was not easy. I would say in Dubai is nice. All these places are good. Just with a bit, bigger break, I would say, and, yeah, just not crazy travel schedule, yeah,” Rybakina said. Meanwhile, Rybakina defeated Paula Badosa 6-3 7-5 in the Indian Wells third round.
