Despite falling short in final, Rybakina sees progress in Toronto

TORONTO -- By the time Elena Rybakina walked onto the court for Thursday’s National Bank Open final, she had already spent 685 minutes -- nearly 11.5 hours -- on court in Toronto.

The World No. 2 had played four three-set matches, with her quarterfinal, semifinal and final coming on three consecutive days. By Thursday night, the accumulated workload showed.

Rybakina fell 6-2, 6-4 to Iga Swiatek, who capped an impressive week and a half with her first title of 2026. Swiatek chased down everything, limited Rybakina’s opportunities to dictate and produced some of her best tennis of the season on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz.

"I didn't have much energy," Rybakina said to press. "I was just very tired. You could see that I wasn't pushing with the legs enough. There was a lot of unforced errors, especially on top of the net. It was just pure lack of concentration. Even on those kind of easy balls, too.

"Iga, she's a tough opponent, and she was trying to get all the balls back, of course. It was difficult for me today, and I just hope that I take all the lessons and somehow next time going to do better."

When asked about stretching her arm a few times during the match, Rybakina cracked a joke.

"Well, I'm not sure if I can tell you what is not hurting actually," Rybakina said laughing. "I feel kind of destroyed, of course, now. Especially when the tournament is finished, you feel kind of everything even more."

Overall, Rybakina said she was pleased with how she adjusted to the conditions to each of her matches in Toronto. Morning, day or night, delay or not, Rybakina played at all hours, even finishing well past midnight after her semifinal win over Coco Gauff.

"This time I actually did better with the scheduling, because I was playing a lot of matches in the morning, during the day, then at night," Rybakina said. "I think that this also is a big difference, and this time compared to other tournaments I did a bit better.

"It was just very much a pity that I didn't have enough to push this last match even more."

Still, Rybakina can take solace in that she just edged her 2025 semifinal finish in Montreal, and she's slowly trickling in on the World No. 1 ranking held by Aryna Sabalenka.

Following Toronto, Rybakina -- with a runner-up finish -- is projected to be 354 ranking points behind Sabalenka. The Kazakh does have a semifinal finish to defend in Cincinnati, but could knock on the door either in Cincinnati or US Open, depending on Sabalenka's results.

However, as she has said dozens of times, Rybakina isn't thinking of the ranking, how far she's behind or what she needs to do to achieve it. In other words, if it happens, it happens.

"I know for me, even if you say by the ranking it's close, for me it still feels very far. I'm not thinking about it so much," Rybakina said. "We all still compete, so it doesn't depend only on me, also how others are going to do."

Thursday, Rybakina did discuss what it would mean to hypothetically become the top player in the world, and if she had any aspirations or belief she could reach the pinnacle when she was a child.

"It would mean definitely a lot," Rybakina said. "When I was young I was not even -- if we talk about as a kid -- I was not even thinking that I'm going to be professional playing at this level. I think I achieved quite a lot. I'm super happy. If I can do better, amazing, I try my best, and hopefully [becoming No.1 ] happens one day."

Rybakina is next scheduled to compete in Cincinnati, where she was ousted in the final four to eventual champion Swiatek in 2025. She will face Taylor Townsend in the second round.

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