Elena Rybakina spoke about the possibility of playing mixed doubles with Alexander Bublik at the upcoming Olympic Games Paris 2024. The Kazakh tennis players previously played together at the 2021 Australian Open, where they lost in the first round to the local pair Matt Ebden and Samantha Stosur.
The 2022 Wimbledon champion stated that her main focus is on singles but did not rule out a potential partnership with Bublik. The world No. 4 acknowledged that she has not made a decision yet and needs to discuss it with her team.
Potential mixed doubles team for Paris 2024
Rybakina delivered a great performance on Monday in the Round of 16 at the French Open, defeating the 15th seed Elina Svitolina without much trouble, 6-4, 6-3. With this, she reached the quarterfinals of a tournament for the ninth time this year, leading ahead of Swiatek (8) and Coco Gauff (7).
This is the second time Rybakina will play in the quarterfinals of the French Open, and she will face the Italian Jasmine Paolini (No. 12), who is having the best season of her career and won the WTA 1000 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships a couple of months ago.
Rybakina spoke to the media in the press conference after defeating Svitolina. A journalist asked Rybakina about her upcoming participation in the Olympic Games and a potential partnership with Bublik for mixed doubles: “You have played mixed doubles with Bublik in the past. I saw you practicing with him in Eastbourne a few years ago. Would you play mixed doubles with him at the Olympics? What’s he like in general to be around?” the journalist asked.
“Well, it’s always fun to practice and hit with Sasha. We also hit I think last year in Rome. I’m not sure yet about the mixed doubles. I’m going to focus for sure on singles, and then we will discuss and see also with the guys if we play or not,” she said.
Earlier this year, Bublik expressed his intentions to play with Rybakina if given the opportunity: “If I chose, I would go and play with Elena because we have a better chance of going far with the doubles,” he said in the middle of the Australian Open.
Rybakina also mentioned that her favorite venue to play during the year is Wimbledon, especially because she won her only Grand Slam title there so far: “I mean, probably Wimbledon. It’s the biggest achievement. I think any Grand Slam is amazing when the stadium is packed, but of course Wimbledon is something in my memories, it was a dream as a kid,” Rybakina stated.