Elena Rybakina explains why her Australian Open celebration was so subdued

Elena Rybakina has secured her first Australian Open title, defeating Aryna Sabalenka in the final at the Rod Laver Arena.

Rybakina, who now has two major titles, says she is aiming for more success following her victory in Melbourne.

She previously won Wimbledon in 2022 but missed out on another title when Sabalenka beat her at the Australian Open final the following year.

This year, the WTA number five took revenge against the world number one with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win.

Elena Rybakina says she needed time to process her Australian Open win

Rybakina’s celebrations were subdued despite the huge moment, something she later discussed on the Sony Sports Network.

When asked about how she kept her composure and whether she’d planned any sort of celebration beforehand, Rybakina replied: “No I didn’t think, of course, about any celebration.

“And honestly, I felt like phew, it finished, the match finished. But I needed a couple of seconds to also realize that I actually won the match, because it was such a tense match, and yeah, a bit of a roller-coaster, especially in the third set.

“And the second set was so close, and I just needed a little bit of raising my attention, raising a little bit of level but it didn’t happen.

“And then, of course, I got a bit frustrated. Took some time, came back, again was down. But I’m super happy that I managed to listen a little bit better to my box, because at some point, I was with too many emotions and yeah it turned this match around.”

Elena Rybakina’s path to winning the Australian Open

Rybakina’s quiet response after match point was very different from what we are used to seeing from most Grand Slam champions.

But it made sense, considering how tense her match against Sabalenka had been. The Belarusian star came in as the favourite, and the two already had a long-standing rivalry.

Besides, every player has their own way of celebrating. Even if Rybakina didn’t show much emotion on the court, you can bet she will be enjoying plenty of private moments away from the cameras.

The 26-year-old put together an outstanding tournament, taking out top-10 players like Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula along the way.

Her performance was similar to what we saw at the 2025 WTA Finals, where she went undefeated and beat Sabalenka in that final as well.