SUMMARY
- Rybakina and Jabeur took to practicing together ahead of the Australian Open.
- They got up to all kinds of mischief, earning laughs from their team members.
The Australian Open got off to a cracking start as players gave it their best to finish on the side of victory. While the commencement of the tournament meant business, some players managed to have fun in the days leading up to it. Chief among those players were Ons Jabeur and Elena Rybakina.
Elena kicked off her season by winning the title at Brisbane International, and she will want to replicate her success at the Australian Open as well. Jabeur will take on Yulia Starodubstewa in her seventh appearance at the tournament.
Despite their eyes being on the prize, Rybakina and Jabeur got up to all sorts of shenanigans at practice. They got to practice together and had a lot of fun in the process.
Jabeur and Rybakina having some fun
byu/LenaRybakina intennis
Ons is known for her sense of humor and her ability to spread cheer. It is one of the reasons that Jabeur is known as the ‘Minister of Happiness’ back home in Tunisia. It was well on display as she and Rybakina walked out of the tunnel for practice. “Film the big star,” she told the cameraman, indicating Rybakina, who was walking behind her.
Jabeur even took over as umpire for the practice match that was already underway. When Rybakina prompted Ons to announce fake scores, the Tunisian star happily obliged, earning laughs from their teams.
Elena Rybakina and Ons Jabeur have a lovely friendship, as clearly seen from this interaction. Rybakina will take to the courts as last year’s finalist, where she lost to Belarusian star Aryna Sabalenka. This season, however, she will try to better her own record in Melbourne.
Elena Rybakina to face Karolina Pliskova
Rybakina will lock horns with Pliskova in her first-round match in Melbourne. The Kazakh player looked in stupendous touch as she defeated Sabalenka in the finals in Brisbane.
Pliskova made her season debut in Brisbane as well. She took on the four-time Grand Slam champion, Naomi Osaka, in the second round. Osaka was making a comeback to tennis after a long hiatus and claimed the first set, but Pliskova fought hard to win the match. She eventually bowed out of the tournament in the next round after losing to Jelena Ostapenko.
World No. 3 Elena Rybakina faces former World No. 1 Karolína Plíšková in round one!#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/qNLEMKjlcz
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) January 11, 2024
So far, the two players have clashed three times on the tour, and Rybakina has won all of them. She thrashed Pliskova in straight sets in their last encounter in Abu Dhabi in 2023.
Elena Rybakina has the experience to dig deep against Pliskova if needed, since the Czech star is a two-time major finalist herself. Their match is scheduled for January 16.
