From Heel Pain to Hard Court: Rybakina Clears the Path to New York
Bharatmorning.com – The Australian Open title holder has put her recent scare behind her, telling fans and media on Saturday that her body feels ready for the final Grand Slam of the year. Elena Rybakina, who pulled out of the Cincinnati WTA semi-final last week with a painful heel problem, confirmed she has resumed training and believes the worst is over.
The Kazakh star’s withdrawal from the Western & Southern Open came in a match against Poland’s Iga Swiatek, a contest in which Rybakina visibly struggled to serve and move on the affected foot. She limped off the court, and the uncertainty that followed kept her sidelined for roughly seven days while medical staff assessed the damage.
What the Injury Looked Like
In the days after Cincinnati, Rybakina described a period of genuine alarm. Walking itself became painful for several days, and the serving motion that defines her game was essentially off the table. She consulted multiple doctors before a treatment plan was finalized.
“It wasn’t easy because we didn’t know exactly how the foot is gonna react, since it was very painful for me to go and serve on that match in Cincinnati … then for a couple of days it was painful to even walk.”
That ambiguity — not knowing whether the heel would hold under competitive load — was, by her own account, the most stressful part of the ordeal. Once the medical team mapped out a recovery protocol, however, the situation improved steadily.
Back in the Practice Box
By Saturday, Rybakina was hitting balls again and reporting that the pain had subsided to a manageable level. She acknowledged that fine-tuning work remained but framed the overall trajectory positively.
“I started to practice, so I feel well. We’re still making some adjustments, but overall I’m happy how we dealt with the problem. We worked hard and likely it’s all good right now and it’s just a matter of a couple more practices and then, yeah, going on the match.”
She added that she felt confident in the day-to-day decisions her team was making about training volume, rest, and contingency planning should the heel flare up again.
“I’m quite confident with the decision we are making each day how to practice, what to do, and especially what can happen worst-case scenario.”
The Rankings Stakes at Flushing Meadows
The US Open carries an extra layer of significance for Rybakina beyond the trophy itself. Should she advance to the women’s semi-finals in New York, she will overtake Belarus’s Aryna Sabalenka at the top of the WTA singles rankings — a position that would mark a historic shift in the sport’s pecking order. Sabalenka, who has claimed back-to-back Grand Slam titles, could extend her reign with a third consecutive major crown, yet the ranking math means Rybakina needs only to reach the last four to claim the No. 1 spot regardless of the final’s outcome.
That arithmetic, however, is something Rybakina has deliberately kept at arm’s length. Weeks before the Cincinnati injury, she was already steering conversations away from points tables and toward present-tense match play. The heel setback, far from derailing that mindset, reinforced it.
“From media mostly I know where I should get, how the others should play all the different scenarios. But for me, especially now when I had this injury last week, I feel like the most important just try to stay healthy, play match at a time.”
Why the US Open Matters Beyond One Title
The tournament at Flushing Meadows closes out the 2025 Grand Slam calendar and sets the stage for the season-ending WTA Finals. For a player who captured the Australian Open earlier this year, a deep New York run would cement her status as the most consistent force on tour and give her a commanding lead heading into the year’s final stretch. Conversely, an early exit would hand Sabalenka and other top-10 competitors a breathing room in the race for the year-end No. 1 position.
Rybakina’s game — a compact, aggressive serve-and-volley style built around a powerful first serve and aggressive net approaches — places particular demands on the lower body. A heel issue, therefore, strikes at the mechanical core of how she generates pace and changes direction. That is precisely why the week of medical evaluation and cautious return-to-play protocols mattered so much: the margin between a full-strength return and a lingering limitation was measured in millimetres of mobility.
With practice sessions now back on the schedule and her medical team reporting no setbacks, the Kazakh champion enters the New York fortnight with the green light. Whether that translates into a ranking coronation or simply another competitive week remains to be seen, but the immediate question — could she play at all? — appears answered.
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