{"id":857237,"date":"2026-08-14T01:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T01:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/857237\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T01:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T01:32:10","slug":"rybakina-on-hunt-for-no-1-so-close-so-far-away-tennis-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/857237\/","title":{"rendered":"Rybakina on Hunt for No. 1: So Close, So Far Away \u2013 Tennis Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>        August<\/p>\n<p class=\"tn-article-dek\">Elena Rybakina opens up on her hunt for the No. 1 ranking.<\/p>\n<p>Richard PagliaroAugust 13, 20262 minute read<\/p>\n<p>By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, August 13, 2026<br \/>Photo credit: Rob Newell\/CameraSport<\/p>\n<p>Elena Rybakina can see the summit.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>World No. 2 Rybakina isn\u2019t quite ready to reach the peak yet.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennisexpress.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\" noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"610\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/610X150-Slide_PRO-PLAYER_5-21-26.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-65402\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Continuing her hunt for her first WTA 1000 title in three years and to supplant Aryna Sabalenka as world No. 1, a weary Rybakina came up slightly short in Toronto tonight.<\/p>\n<p>Former No. 1 Iga Swiatek stopped a weary Rybakina 6-2, 6-3 to collect her 26th career championship and maiden National Bank Open crown.<\/p>\n<p>Had Rybakina won her first WTA 1000 title since the 2023 Rome, she would have moved to within four points of surpassing Sabalenka for world No. 1. As it stands now, Rybakina trails Sabalenka <a href=\"https:\/\/live-tennis.eu\/en\/wta-live-ranking\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/live-tennis.eu\/en\/wta-live-ranking\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">by 354 ranking points.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Australian Open champion said the top spot feels so close yet so far away as she\u2019s been close before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would mean definitely a lot [to be No. 1],\u201d Rybakina said. \u201cI know for me, even if you say by the ranking it\u2019s close, for me it still feels very far. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I\u2019m not thinking about it so much. We all still compete, so it doesn\u2019t depend only on me, also<br \/>how others are going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Sabalenka is defending 2,000 ranking points for her US Open title later this month. Rybakina, a 2025 Cincinnati Open semifinalist, is defending 390 points at Cincinnati and 240 points at the US Open where she lost to Marketa Vondrousova in the 2025 fourth round.<\/p>\n<p>Two-time Grand Slam champion Rybakina said growing up, No. 1 was beyond her wildest dreams. Now, that the top spot is within reach, she sees it as an \u201camazing\u201d achievement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I was young I was not even, if we talk about as a kid, I was not even thinking that I\u2019m going to be professional playing at this level,\u201d Rybakina said. \u201cI think I achieved quite a lot. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m super happy. If I can do better, amazing, I try my best, and hopefully it happens one day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August Elena Rybakina opens up on her hunt for the No. 1 ranking. Richard PagliaroAugust 13, 20262 minute&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-857237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}