Miami Open star transfers £4,500 to 14 young tennis players

Elena Rybakina, leader of Kazakhstan’s women’s tennis team, has donated £4,500 ($5,500) to support the country’s rising female players. After her historic victory at Wimbledon 2022, Rybakina promised to donate part of the prize money to charity and support young talent.

Highlighting her generous donation, a spokesperson from the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation, said: “Each of the girls who are already winning on Kazakh and international arenas wrote a letter to Elena, telling their story in tennis.

“Moreover, initially the total amount from Elena was less, but later the Wimbledon winner increased the number and monetary amount of grants.”

The 23-year-old, who was born in Moscow, Russia, selflessly decided to increase the initial number and volume of grants after the players sent her letters sharing stories of how they became professional players.

Rybakina recently came back from a set down to take her winning streak into double figures with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Paula Badosa.

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The Indian Wells champion had to find a way back into the match to keep her hopes of completing the Sunshine double alive. After a dominant run to the Indian Wells title, Rybakina has been tested in Miami with both her matches going to three sets.

Badosa came into the match with a 4-2 lead in their head-to-head but the bulk of their meetings came prior to Rybakina’s ascension to the elite group of players. But it was Badosa who had the more solid start as Rybakina was plagued by errors and inaccuracy.

Rybakina’s second serve proved particularly easy for Badosa to pounce on and she secured four breaks in the opening set, however, Rybakina’s newfound confidence came flooding back as she turned the tide in a hard-fought second set.

Despite the second set going to serve, Rybakina found herself down a match point on her own delivery at 5-4 and 30-40 in the second set. That close shave appeared to spark the Wimbledon champion into life, she broke Badosa in the next game before serving out the set.

In the final set it always seemed as though Rybakina had the momentum and though they were level at 3-3 once the world No 7 could see the finish line there was no stopping her as she rattled off the three games needed to secure a place in the Round of 16.

After the game, Rybakina said: “It didn’t start well in the first set but in the end I just found some energy. I was trying to push more on the serve and started to move better on the court.

“It was a really tough battle. I was trying to focus on every point because the first set didn’t go my way, but it was just a few mistakes here and there. Overall, I played well. Paula was serving well. Just happy that I was able to manage in three sets.”

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