Elena Rybakina is a sore winner (this is a good thing)

Well, honestly, when I woke up today, I didn't feel fresh. First few steps, everything was in pain. But I think you kind of also get used to this kind of soreness. Elena Rybakina, following her win over Marta Kostyuk in the Stuttgart WTA 500 final.

With all due respect to Olympic gold medalist and Tennis Channel analyst Monica Puig, who recently completed Puerto Rico’s Ironman triathlon in a blazing time of 5:42, the WTA woman-of-steel at the moment has to be a 24-year-old who ditched her native Russia for Kazakhstan, Elena Rybakina.

A cursory look at the Rybakina’s trials through the first third of this year might suggest that she is struggling with her game as well as her frequently compromised health. Among other things, seven of her last 10 matches have been knock-down, drag-out, three-setters.

Yet here she is, the tour leader with three titles, and the outright lead in match wins (26), going into this week's Madrid 1000.

Not bad work for the woman who had to quit cold at the quarterfinal stage of the Dubai tournament due to gastro-intestinal difficulties. A mere 16 days later, ongoing GI problems forced Rybakina to skip Indian Wells, where she was defending champion. Rybakina’s response to these setbacks?

“Not easy, for sure,” Rybakina told reporters, referring to her start this year, “I think in the end it's successful, a lot of matches I played, a lot of wins. So can't complain.”

Don’t let that serene and pale visage, the muted rhetoric, or the extraordinary composure Rybankina maintains through thick and thin fool you. There is nothing milquetoast about her. This woman is more assassin than warrior. She is reticent rather than verbose, emotionally restrained instead of expressive, and seemingly allergic to the limelight. Rybakina is a legitimate badass.

Rybakina’s character was revealed in all its pastel colors when she won Wimbledon in 2022. In addition to crafting one of the most dominant first-time triumphs at the old club, the surprise winner also produced a reaction that was noteworthy for a lack of emotional excess. “Oversharing” is not a word with which she is familiar.

Alexandra Stevenson, a former pro and ESPN analyst, recently told me, “It’s funny how there was no celebration at all when she won. She just walked up to the net after the final and shook hands [with Ons Jabeur]. It was like she just won Quebec City, right?”

Stevenson laughed and quickly added, “But I don’t think she’s a wallflower. She’s just quiet, not at all aggressive except when it really comes out on the court.”

Rybakina's breakthrough did not generate the attention that we now know it deserved for another reason. The contentious debate over the All England Club’s decision to ban Russian players on the heels of the invasion of Ukraine—and the tours’ retaliatory decision to deny the players rankings points—tainted the outcome. But the woman Stevenson dubbed “the Unassuming Champion" has proven herself, and then some.

Since the start of 2023, Rybakina is 10-5 against Top 10 competition. Currently ranked No. 4, she has a 4-2 record against No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek. Her long and limber right arm has detonated 207 aces thus far in the year; her nearest rival, No. 2 ranked Aryna Sabalenka, has cracked just 105, which of itself is more than twice Swiatek’s 49. The value of the big serve in the WTA should not be underestimated.

The serve details are eye-catching, but an improved return has been no less critical to Rybakina’s success. She belted 10 aces in her three-set win over Swiatek in Stuttgart, but glossed over that when meeting with the press to say, “I think the return definitely improved from last year from both angles. . . [I am] really happy with the return and the overall game.”

Stevenson, who rode her own smoking, 120-m.p.h. serve to the Wimbledon semifinals in 1999, said that Swiatek, Sabalenka and Rybakina comprise a trinity that stands out at the top of the WTA because of a common trait. “Those three can defend their serves with their other tools,” she said. “But they’re also better than everyone else at not breaking themselves.”

Considering the way Rybakina has managed her tribulations this year, at this moment she just might be the best women's tennis player in the world.

That helps explain why Rybakina, in spite of the setbacks she has faced this year, has managed to shine. But the more valuable asset for the 6-foot tall righthander is that unquantifiable toughness: her ability to grit her teeth, grind, and find a way to get through matches, always with minimal fuss or fanfare.

Not all of Rybakina's setbacks have been physical. In 2023, Rybakina lost a heartbreaking, three-set Australian Open final to Sabalenka. This year, her hopes in Melbourne were fired by a season-opening win in Brisbane, then shattered in an equally devastating if historic second-round loss. Anna Blinkova knocked out Rybakina in Melbourne in a two-hour and 47-minute struggle ending with the longest final-set tiebreaker in Grand Slam history: 6-4 4-6 7-6 (22-20).

Rybakina crafted a bounce-back win in Abu Dhabi, reached the final in Doha (a loss to Swiatek), then was laid low by a gastro-intestinal ailment that also took her off the board for Indian Wells. Under-prepared and tired, Rybakina still made it to the Miami Open 1000 final. She was beaten by Danielle Collins.

The win in Stuttgart was Rybakina’s third title on clay, and her eighth overall. Considering the way she has managed her tribulations this year, at this moment she just might be the best women's tennis player in the world. Last year during this clay segment, Rybakina won at Rome, but she had to issue a walkover to her third-round opponent at Roland Garros due to an upper respiratory infection.

Rybakina’s susceptibility to illness is of concern to her support team, but there’s nothing worrisome about her toughness or stamina. The soreness is a price she’s willing to play in her quiet, uncomplaining way.