{"id":451499,"date":"2026-02-01T11:21:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T11:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/451499\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T11:21:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T11:21:15","slug":"the-kazakhstan-billionaire-behind-elena-rybakinas-open-triumph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/451499\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kazakhstan billionaire behind Elena Rybakina\u2019s Open triumph"},"content":{"rendered":"

Other Russian-born players, including Alexander Bublik, Mikhael Kukushkin and Andrey Golubev \u2013 have also swapped to Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n

In 2022, Wimbledon controversially banned Russian and Belarusian players from the tournament following the invasion of Ukraine, but it reversed the decision in 2023. Currently in all grand slam events, Russian and Belarusian players are allowed to compete<\/a> but must do so under a neutral flag.<\/p>\n

Born in Moscow, Rybakina represented Russia early in her career as a teenager, but made the switch to Kazakhstan in 2018, when she was 19.<\/p>\n

In 2020, she told journalists that financial difficulties made pursuing her sporting career challenging, and she changed her citizenship to Kazakhstan because \u201cthey believed in me\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Sunday morning, Rybakina reiterated her praise for the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation and said she was proud to represent the former Soviet nation.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s been a long time, and it was a tough decision and an important decision, because I was junior and I had to really decide what way I take,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really glad Kazakhstan believed in me and supported me, so it means a lot to me to represent Kazakhstan, and looking over the years how much tennis grew and how many kids are playing now especially after my win at Wimbledon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis win definitely is going to bring even more kids hopefully to want to play tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rybakina knows she\u2019s not like other players.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old did a simple fist pump and walked over to the net with a tiny ghost of a smile after defeating world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka to win her second grand slam.<\/p>\n

\"Rybakina<\/p>\n

Rybakina poses with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup after winning the women\u2019s singles final. Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not as expressive as other players,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not screaming or falling on the ground, but I was super happy even though maybe my facial expression was not that big.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rybakina walked along the Yarra River in a fire engine red dress with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup in her arms on Sunday morning, beaming after defeating Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll have to give me some poses to do,\u201d she called to the waiting media pack and photographers, as onlookers in kayaks and boats waved and congratulated her.<\/p>\n

\"Rybakina<\/p>\n

Rybakina has won her second slam. Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

After three hours\u2019 sleep, Rybakina politely declined a reporter\u2019s request to recreate Jim Courier\u2019s famous dive into the Yarra River. <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long night, but I got the chance to speak with my family, which I\u2019m super happy [about] and just a little bit of celebration with the team,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Bulat<\/p>\n

Bulat Utemuratov is investing big in tennis in Kazakhstan.Credit: Internet<\/p>\n

Rybakina has previously spoken about her coach, Stefano Vukov, saying his advice on court during matches \u201cdefinitely makes a difference\u201d.<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old Croatian coach, who accepted a trophy as the winning coach on Saturday night, successfully appealed a 12-month ban from WTA events last year.<\/p>\n

Vukov was suspended after a WTA investigation <\/a>at the start of 2025 into a potential breach of its code of conduct, regarding \u201cabusive conduct\u201d and \u201cabuse of authority\u201d.<\/p>\n

Details of the case remained confidential but Vukov denied any wrongdoing and Rybakina insisted he never mistreated her during their time working together.<\/p>\n

Rybakina said she was grateful for her team\u2019s support and belief throughout her Australian Open campaign. <\/p>\n

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Read more on the Australian Open<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Other Russian-born players, including Alexander Bublik, Mikhael Kukushkin and Andrey Golubev \u2013 have also swapped to Kazakhstan. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-451499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}