Ask any player how many birthdays, home-cooked dinners, weddings and other off-court commitments they miss due to the nomadic nature of life on tour, and there are either too many to count, or they’ve stopped being invited altogether.
That doesn’t even factor in the more mundane life markers, such as taking a driving test, as Elena Rybakina can attest.
Last year was anything but run of the mill for the Wimbledon 2022 champion and Australian Open 2023 finalist, who landed at Melbourne Park early this week for her sixth campaign following Kazakhstan’s run to the United Cup semifinals in Sydney.
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Despite an injury and illness-marred stretch, which included an almost two-month absence due to a problematic back late in 2024, the 25-year-old Kazakh still finished at world No.6.
The downtime meant extra time for those dinner commitments with friends and family, time spent with her dogs and that small matter of sitting her driving test.
“In tennis, of course I want just to stay healthy because last year I skipped a lot of tournaments,” Rybakina said. “I was not able to participate in big events. For me to play from beginning until the end of the year, [and] of course, I want to win big titles – this is my goal on court.
“Outside of the court, I'm happy. I finally got my driver’s licence. This is one part, which I'm happy [about].”
The impetus came during her dash to the Stuttgart title last April – her third of the year after Brisbane and Abu Dhabi – when she collected the keys to a new Porsche as her prize.
Following her upset of two-time defending champion Iga Swiatek in the semifinals, she was asked whether she was as fast behind the wheel as the speed at which she thumped a tennis ball.
“Well, guys, I actually don’t have a driver’s licence,” she said on court before she later elaborated off it. “I wanted to do it already a long time, but I never have a chance to be at one place for long.
“I did already a couple of lessons. I was driving, but yeah, for sure that's the goal for this year outside of the court.”
That incidentally ended up Rybakina’s last title of the year, but she showed promise in her November return following her second-round US Open withdrawal with a win over the world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka at the WTA Finals before the trip to Perth and Sydney for Kazakhstan team duties.
“It's not easy when you got used to travel every week, to make the decision also to not play, not to push yourself, because you are a competitor,” she said. “At the end of the day, you always want to be better. For me, the whole year was pretty difficult.
“Coming back from Melbourne [last year], the issues with sleep started. It's been going on for a long time. So of course it was not easy. It was very helpful, these two months, which I didn't practise at all, I think it helped me a lot.”
Rybakina’s last match in a major was a victory over Australian Destanee Aiava first up at Flushing Meadows.
She opens against another Aussie, Emerson Jones, a player 10 years her junior who will have the home crowd in her corner.
“I think she's definitely a good player. I don't know her much, but I just saw on TV I think one set of her playing with Daria Kasatkina [in the Adelaide quarterfinals],” she said. “I think she's a good player, dangerous player. Especially when you're young, you have nothing to lose.”
If all goes accordingly, there’ll be no more dinners at home or Porsche driving runs for at least the next fortnight.