{"id":1773865,"date":"2026-02-16T12:30:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T09:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1773865"},"modified":"2026-02-16T12:30:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T09:30:23","slug":"elena-rybakina-makes-statement-of-intent-about-chasing-world-no-1-aryna-sabalenka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1773865","title":{"rendered":"Elena Rybakina makes statement of intent about chasing world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"ps-article-content rounded-lg lg:mt-5 lg:border lg:border-card lg:bg-card lg:shadow-primary\">\n<header>\n<h1 class=\"py-4 text-xl font-normal text-title sm:text-2xl\">Elena Rybakina makes statement of intent about chasing world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka<\/h1>\n<div class=\"my-2 flex items-center justify-between\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/author\/ewan-west\" class=\"text-sm font-normal !text-author\"><br \/>\n                            Ewan West                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <time class=\"ml-3 text-sm font-normal text-info md:ml-4\" datetime=\"16 Feb 2026 12:30 PM\" data-ps-date=\"16 Feb 2026 12:30 PM\" data-ps-datetime=\"1771245023\"><br \/>\n                            16 Feb 2026 12:30 PM                        <\/time>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden justify-end space-x-4 text-xl sm:flex sm:!opacity-100\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/elena-rybakina-world-no-1-ranking-statement-aryna-sabalenka\" class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" aria-label=\"Share to facebook\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Ftennis-news%2Felena-rybakina-world-no-1-ranking-statement-aryna-sabalenka\" class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" aria-label=\"Share to twitter\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Ftennis-news%2Felena-rybakina-world-no-1-ranking-statement-aryna-sabalenka\" class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" aria-label=\"Share to linkedin\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/\/send\/?text=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Ftennis-news%2Felena-rybakina-world-no-1-ranking-statement-aryna-sabalenka\" aria-label=\"Share to whatsapp\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/share.flipboard.com\/bookmarklet\/popout?v=2&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Ftennis-news%2Felena-rybakina-world-no-1-ranking-statement-aryna-sabalenka\" aria-label=\"Share to flipboard\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"sm:hidden flex items-center space-x-5\">\n                        <a class=\"!text-share-icon hover:!text-share-icon-active flex items-center justify-center\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" aria-label=\"Follow Tennis365 on Google Search\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <button id=\"t365-article-share-btn\" class=\"mr-2 hidden h-6 w-6 appearance-none border-none !text-share-icon outline-none hover:!text-share-icon-active sm:hidden\" data-title=\"Elena Rybakina makes statement of intent about chasing world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/button>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5 border-b border-page\"><\/div>\n<section>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5\">\n<figure class=\"aspect-h-9 aspect-w-16 relative\">\n                                        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1320\" height=\"742\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"w-full h-full object-cover object-center !my-0\" src=\"https:\/\/d2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Elena-Rybakina-Aryna-Sabalenka-1320x742.jpg\" alt=\"Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka\">                <\/figure><figcaption class=\"flex items-center space-x-3 border-b border-mobile-caption px-3 lg:border-caption\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-1.5 break-words !text-xs !text-content\">\n                                Elena Rybakina with Aryna Sabalenka inset                            <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<div class=\"ciam-article-t365\">\n<p>Elena Rybakina has proclaimed that becoming world No 1 is \u201cdefinitely\u201d one of her goals ahead of her appearance at the 2026 Dubai Tennis Championships.<\/p>\n<p>The Kazakh secured her second Grand Slam title at the Australian Open last month, and she is currently at her career-high ranking of world No 3 \u2014 a position she first reached in June 2023.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/elena-rybakina\">Rybakina<\/a> is on 7,523 points after reaching the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 event in Doha last week, which puts her 280 points behind second-ranked Iga Swiatek and 3,347 points behind world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka.<\/p>\n<p>Neither Sabalenka nor Swiatek are competing at this week\u2019s WTA 1000 in Dubai, which has presented Rybakina with the opportunity to climb to world No 2 and close the gap to top spot.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-features\/wta-rankings-race-to-riyadh-elena-rybakina-victoria-mboko-3rd-iga-swiatek-coco-gauff\">Rybakina is in the No 1 spot in the Race to Riyadh<\/a> \u2014 the yearly rankings that determine the qualifiers for the season-ending WTA Finals.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to the media ahead of the Dubai Championships, Rybakina was asked about her hopes of attaining the world No 1 ranking this season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, it\u2019s definitely a goal,\u201d said Rybakina.\u00a0\u201cBut depends, of course, how the other players are going to compete and what results are going to be.<\/p>\n<h2>WTA Tour News<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-features\/wta-rankings-how-elena-rybakina-can-overtake-iga-swiatek-at-no-2-in-dubai\"><strong>WTA Rankings: How Elena Rybakina can overtake Iga Swiatek at No 2 in Dubai<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/elena-rybakina-asked-if-women-should-play-best-of-five-sets\"><strong>Elena Rybakina asked if women should play best-of-five sets as Australian Open considers change<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Want more from Tennis365? Add us as <a rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\">a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe season is so long that I know there is no time to stop, stop working. You need to improve every day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have so many tournaments. Yeah, you need to catch up, and you need to keep on going.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDefinitely, that\u2019s the goal, to go higher in the ranking, to win another Grand Slam. Yeah, we will see just how this season goes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 26-year-old, who won Wimbledon in 2022, was also asked about her favourite surface after grass courts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter grass? Probably the hard courts, yeah,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I think I\u2019ve been having good results on all the surface. Clay is quite short, but also there I had some good results.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think I can play on all the surfaces. Definitely the faster ones [are] better for me, for my game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On playing in Dubai, where she lives, Rybakina added: \u201cI really love Dubai. I\u2019ve been practising and doing pre-season on these courts. Of course, they resurface them. But everything is familiar. So yeah, it\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ NEXT: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/wta-tour\/wta-rankings-rybakina-poised-overtake-swiatek-mboko-makes-top-10-debut-muchova-8\">WTA Rankings: Rybakina poised to overtake Swiatek as Mboko makes top-10 debut, Muchova +8<\/a><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elena Rybakina makes statement of intent about chasing world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka Ewan West 16 Feb 2026 12:30 PM Elena Rybakina with Aryna Sabalenka inset Elena Rybakina has proclaimed that becoming world No 1 is \u201cdefinitely\u201d one of her goals ahead of her appearance at the 2026 Dubai Tennis Championships. The Kazakh secured her [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,249],"class_list":["post-1773865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-tennis365-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1773865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773865\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1773865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1773865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1773865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}