Elena Rybakina: ‘My coach got a tattoo of my name. It’s crazy but we had a bet’

In February 2020, as Elena Rybakina’s rise up the rankings became impossible to ignore, she and her coach, Stefano Vukov, made a mischievous bet during the Qatar Open. If she won Wimbledon, he said, he would get a tattoo of her name. She recorded his pledge, but then forgot about it. Covid struck soon after, and instead she spent the next two years trying to recover her form.

Today, Vukov carries Rybakina’s name and the date of this year’s Wimbledon final in indelible ink on his right arm, a permanent reminder of this golden summer. A month ago, Rybakina capped off her startling rise to the big stage in July by winning her first grand slam title at Wimbledon.

“I already forgot [about the bet] – we were laughing around,” Rybakina says. “Before the final, he told me that he would do it. So, he did it. For me, it’s still crazy, I can’t believe it. But it is what it is. We had a bet.”

Rybakina’s run to the Wimbledon title was not at all shocking, but it was still remarkable. She scuppered two grand slam title winners in Bianca Andreescu and Simona Halep, then was ice cold in her first grand slam final as she overpowered Ons Jabeur, the second seed. Her destructive serve, which regularly hits 120mph, was always present in the big moments.

The days that followed were a blur. Rybakina was greeted by masses when arriving home, then received an Order of Friendship medal from the prime minister of Kazakhstan, Alikhan Smailov. She pledged to donate the bonus she received from the Kazakh Federation to dog rescue and junior tennis in the country. For a calm, introverted person, the spotlight was intense.

“It was really nice to see, especially kids, how happy they were to see me. They were hugging, taking pictures. But it was actually