Elena Rybakina’s 2026 Grand Slam Journey: Triumphs and Setbacks
Elena Rybakina’s 2026 season at the majors has been a juggernaut with two jolting interruptions.
Three Grand Slams now sit on her résumé after a ruthless run to the US Open title in New York, where she beat Aryna Sabalenka in the final to claim her third major crown. That triumph followed her Australian Open victory earlier in the year and added fresh shine to the Wimbledon title she captured in 2022. Across the four biggest stages this season, she walked away with a 17-2 record – the best of her career.
Those two losses, though, tell their own story.
Clay trip in Paris
Clay has always been the surface where Rybakina looks most human. She arrived at Roland Garros this year with reasons to believe that narrative might finally be changing. She had lifted a fifth career title on the dirt in Stuttgart and pushed through to the quarter-finals in Rome, form that suggested she could mount a serious charge in Paris.
The opening round backed that up. Rybakina brushed aside Veronika Erjavec 6-2, 6-2, a clean, businesslike start that hinted at a deep run.
Then came Yuliia Starodubtseva.
Ranked No. 55 at the time and without a single appearance beyond the second round at a Slam, the Ukrainian tore up the script. After dropping the first set 3-6, Starodubtseva surged back to take the second 6-1 and then held her nerve in a tense deciding-set tiebreak, closing out a 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(4) upset.
For Rybakina, it was her earliest exit at a major since the 2024 US Open, when a back injury forced her to withdraw. For Starodubtseva, it was a breakthrough that arrived against the backdrop of a turbulent spell; she had recently endured a six-match losing streak that dragged her outside the top 70.
That day in Paris, though, she played like anything but a struggling outsider.
Revenge in New York, rise for Starodubtseva
The season would loop them back together.
Starodubtseva steadied her year, and at the US Open she again found herself in the second week conversation. She reached the third round of a major for just the second time in her career and, fittingly, ran into Rybakina once more.
This time, the Kazakh did not let the match slip. In a tight first set, Rybakina edged the tiebreak 8-6 before tightening her grip to close out a 7-6(6), 6-3 win. It was a small but pointed act of revenge on the way to the title in New York.
Starodubtseva did not leave empty-handed. Her joint-best Slam run secured a new milestone: she will break into the top 50 for the first time, climbing to a career-high ranking of No. 43. The player who once stunned Rybakina on clay now carries the ranking to prove she belongs on this stage.
Grass shock at Wimbledon
The only other player to beat Elena Rybakina at a Grand Slam in 2026 was a far more familiar name.
Wimbledon is meant to be her territory. A former champion, a perennial favourite on the lawns, Rybakina usually looks at home on the grass. This year, though, the tournament ended abruptly in the third round.
Across the net stood Elise Mertens, seeded 25th and facing a daunting history. Rybakina had won seven of their eight previous meetings. The matchup appeared lopsided on paper.
On court, it flipped. Mertens dug in during a tight first set, then snatched the tiebreak 7-4. With that foothold, she ran away with the second, storming to a 7-6(4), 6-1 win that stunned the Centre Court crowd and sent one of the title favourites out far earlier than expected.
Rybakina absorbed the blow, reset, and then answered in the most emphatic way possible: by conquering New York and turning a season of “what ifs” into one defined by silverware.
Two defeats. Two very different stories. And a player who, despite those stumbles, just produced the most dominant Grand Slam year of her career.
