Reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina's father has made a shocking revelation about the 23-year-old. Andrey Rybakin has revealed that his daughter wanted to quit tennis six months ago. However, Elena’s family calmed down the Kazakh and she returned to training ahead of Wimbledon. Notably, the 23-year-old made history by winning the women's singles title at Wimbledon last month, beating Ons Jabeur in the final.
With this title, Elena Rybakina became the first player from Kazakhstan to win a Major singles title. Her father revealed how the Kazakh always had a desire to be the best from an early age. In a discussion with the Russian newspaper Sport Express, Rybakin said that Elena possesses the ability to surprise herself every time she walks out to play. He then revealed that the 23-year-old thought of quitting the game six months ago.
"When she was little, she once said to her grandfather the following phrase: “I want to be the first!” And she goes to this goal. Time will tell. It seems to me that she should still surprise everyone with her game. It's good that she is now lowered to the ground. She understands everything perfectly and tries. Now she is definitely not going to quit tennis, although she had such moments six months ago," Rybakin said.
Rybakin then explained the reason behind Elena’s thought process. He said that she did not have the required exhaust despite putting in full efforts and this dented her confidence. However, she calmed down after the members of the family talked her through it.
"Many tennis players go through this," Rybakin said. "It happens that you put maximum efforts, but there is no exhaust. Even just before Wimbledon, it was like that. She could not stand it, she left the competition, we talked with her in the family for five or six days. My daughter calmed down and began to train again."
