Dubai Tennis C’ships 2020 finalist keeps her eye on ball

The 2020 Dubai Duty Free Women's Open finalist Elena Rybakina has insisted that not even the ongoing pandemic has affected her prior goal of being the best in the world in the near future.

Rybakina, who took then world No. 1 Simona Halep all the way before losing in the final in three sets in February, has chosen Dubai to conduct her preseason preparations heading towards a more optimistic 2021.

After flying back home to Moscow for a few days in February prior to heading for the North American hardcourt season starting with Indian Wells and Miami, Rybakina could not touch her racket for the next three-and-a-half months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

She eventually resumed training in Bratislava, Slovakia after her coach Stefano Vukov managed to join her there. When the WTA resumed play in New York in August, she lost her return match to Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova. And then at the 2020 US Open, the 21-yearold made it to the 2nd round.

After returning to Europe, Rybakina exacted her revenge on Alexandrova at the Italian Open, but squandered a chance to serve out the match in a third round loss to Yulia Putintseva.

Rybakina's breakthrough came during the 2020 season, during which she has led the WTA with five finals, including four in her first five events of the year. Her fifth final of the year and first since the resumption of the tour came at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, but she lost in the final in three sets to No. 5 Elina Svitolina.