{"id":520808,"date":"2026-03-05T18:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T18:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/520808\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T18:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T18:20:12","slug":"elena-rybakina-awkward-moment-in-trophy-presentation-video-taylor-fritz-mixed-doubles-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/520808\/","title":{"rendered":"Elena Rybakina awkward moment in trophy presentation, video, Taylor Fritz mixed doubles, exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elena Rybakina<\/a> knows how to win a trophy at Indian Wells, but her latest victory saw her stuck in an awkward situation with a tournament sponsor.<\/p>\n

Rybakina teamed up with Taylor Fritz in the mixed doubles Eisenhower Cup exhibition event for the second season in a row, with the pair collecting the trophy once again.<\/p>\n

American duo Amanda Anisimova and Learner Tien were called to face the star duo, who powered to a 10-7 win courtesy of their notorious big service games.<\/p>\n

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Fritz and Rybakina received a cheque of over $284,000 AUD for their success and were also each presented a winner’s trophy by tournament sponsors.<\/p>\n

\"Taylor<\/p>\n

Taylor Fritz and Elena Rybakina pose with their trophies after winning the Eisenhower Cup Tie Break Tens.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

It was then the women’s Australian Open champion became stuck in an uncomfortable position as senior vice president of Eisenhower Health David Renker approached her.<\/p>\n

Renker moved in to place his arm behind Rybakina at the trophy presentation, preparing to take a photo with her and American teammate Fritz.<\/p>\n

However, as he did so, the two-time champion swiftly pushed his arm away.<\/p>\n

Renker was quick to take a step back after the incident, while Rybakina made a quick glance in his direction before turning back to the cameras in front of her.<\/p>\n

No statement on the matter has been made by the tournament, Fritz or Rybakina.<\/p>\n

\"Elena<\/p>\n

Elena Rybakina moves a tournament sponsor’s hand away.\u00a0Twitter<\/p>\n

Instead, the pair carried on with their post-match celebrations as per usual, declaring their appreciation for the other’s talent and their joy to win yet again.<\/p>\n

“I am super happy,” Rybakina said post-match.<\/p>\n

“Hopefully I can do the same thing in the singles.”<\/p>\n

Fritz, 28, admitted the win was made easier for him thanks to the Kazak’s talent.<\/p>\n

“I mean, I can’t really volley all that work so it works out great,” he laughed, speaking with the Tennis Channel post-match.<\/p>\n

“She serves great too, so it makes my life really easy.<\/p>\n

\"Taylor<\/p>\n

Taylor Fritz and Elena Rybakina in action.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“I have spent a lot of time here growing up, so it is always special being here.<\/p>\n

“It feels familiar playing here. Even before I was a pro, I have always played well here.”<\/p>\n

Rybakina and Fritz will return to the courts in the Riverside County in California on Saturday to begin their campaigns in the main draw of the Indian Wells Masters.<\/p>\n

Neither player’s first round opponent has been confirmed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elena Rybakina knows how to win a trophy at Indian Wells, but her latest victory saw her stuck…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-520808","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\/520808","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=520808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}