ROLAND GARROS

June 3, 2024

Elena Rybakina

Press Conference

E. RYBAKINA/E. Svitolina

6-4, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Into the quarterfinals here at Roland Garros. How do you feel being here for the second time in this round?

ELENA RYBAKINA: Yeah, really happy to be in the quarterfinals. Looking forward for next matches.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Do you start to think about winning the title at this point, or does your mind go to Saturday in these situations?

ELENA RYBAKINA: Well, of course the goal is always to win, but still, I'm focusing match by match now. I just saw that Jasmine won, so I'm just preparing for that match for now.

Q. You have talked in the past about wanting to come to the net more. You played some nice volleys today. How challenging is it to implement what you're practicing in big-match situations under pressure?

ELENA RYBAKINA: Yeah, I'm trying to come to the net more often. Of course I think that's the one thing if I improve it's going to be easier maybe to close some rallies. But it depends, of course, on the score, if you're confident to do that or not. But slowly I think I'm doing good to progress in that.

Q. How close to your best do you think you're playing at the moment?

ELENA RYBAKINA: Well, for now I think I'm playing really good. As I was saying in previous press conference, I was struggling with sleep, some health issues. I think still in the past few weeks I lost a little bit physiques, lost a bit of weight. But more or less I'm confident and feeling great and happy that I was managing to finish the matches also in two sets.

Q. You mentioned sleep. Have you slept any better the last couple of nights, or is that just kind of an ongoing thing?

ELENA RYBAKINA: No, I was sleeping better last night. Thank you.

Q. How much have you had to compromise for playing on clay? Have you changed your game that much, or do you feel that you basically play the same game as you play on hard and grass with just slightly different footwork?

ELENA RYBAKINA: Yeah, of course I'm playing the same style. I need to play aggressive, and I just need to have more patience in rallies sometimes. You see faulting ball, and even today I was making some unforced errors because I was rushing. But I think it's all about the footwork in these long rallies in the end.

Q. I wanted to ask you about Aryna's serve. Is it the biggest serve, would you say, in the women's game outside of yours? If you could just talk a little about it.

ELENA RYBAKINA: Yeah, well, Aryna is a really powerful player, and she has really good serve. I mean, I also can serve fast, but I feel like her ball is still a little bit heavier. Yeah, she's definitely not easy to play against.

Q. You have played mixed doubles with Bublik in the past. I saw you practicing with him in Eastbourne a few years ago. Would you play mixed doubles with him at the Olympics? What's he like in general to be around?

ELENA RYBAKINA: Well, it's always fun to practice and hit with Sascha. We also hit I think last year in Rome.

I'm not sure yet about the mixed doubles. I'm going to focus for sure on singles, and then we will discuss and see also with the guys if we play or not.

Q. You will have to play Jasmine Paolini, and you played I think three times against her. What do you recall of those matches? What do you think about her and her game?

ELENA RYBAKINA: She's tough opponent. We played now recently in Stuttgart three sets. I was up. She's moving well. She's also hitting the ball quite heavy.

So it's going to be a lot about of course my footwork. I will try to focus on myself. But, yeah, we know each other well. She been playing good now. Also tough match against Elina. We will see.

Q. I would like to know, what do you think you have to just a little improve to be the No. 1 that you're going for? Because it's so little the difference. You're working very hard to get it.

ELENA RYBAKINA: It depends also on the other players in the end of the day, trying to be solid in these key moments. Every time I play against Aryna or Iga, it's really just difference between couple of points. It's always tough matches. They are doing amazing also. So it's, in the end, just competition.

Q. Many players said that clay court's gonna be different depending on weather and condition. What kind of clay court is your ideal situation? Sunny day and ball bounces high or more like heavy condition or...

ELENA RYBAKINA: I feel like maybe heavier conditions a little bit better for me playing against opponents because I can hit the ball and it's not going to fly so much, because even today, as I say, like, some mistakes are really, like, it's flying too much. Today was sunny, but I think that in the end I need to adjust and play in any weather condition.

Q. How different was it today from the first week of the tournament?

ELENA RYBAKINA: Yeah, it is quite different. Still I think we played early in the morning. I think during the day is going to be even hotter and it's going to change more.

The court is quite heavy, I would say. Today the ball was flying more just because of the sun.

It was even the difference between this one hour while I was warming up on this court and when we came on the court to play, it is different.

Q. You now have been on the tour for a while. We know the game has many different aspects to it. I'd like to ask you a general question. What do you enjoy? What do you love the most as being a WTA pro who's traveling the world and is competing? What do you like the most?

ELENA RYBAKINA: I think the amazing part of playing on the big stages is to see how many people actually coming, watching, supporting you. When kids coming to see you play and they get some inspiration, I think this is the biggest thing and this is so nice to see.

Q. Of all the big stages, if you could just play on one stage, what stage would that be to put you on the spot?

ELENA RYBAKINA: I mean, probably Wimbledon. It's the biggest achievement. I think any Grand Slam is amazing when the stadium is packed, but of course Wimbledon is something in my memories is a dream as a kid.