It was the ideal way to begin her campaign at the French Open; but, she will need to work on improving her serve, since the Belgian was able to break it three times. It was not Rybakina’s poor delivery that was the most shocking aspect of the day; rather, it was her direct response to calling out reporters for the way they questioned her.

The Kazakh woman, who was 24 years old at the time, believed that she had answered some of the questions that were asked in the earlier interviews, and she urged that the questions be improved. Ben Rothenberg, an American tennis writer, was not impressed by the behavior of the previous Wimbledon champion, and a number of other journalists did not take kindly to the former champion’s behavior.

“Oleg mentioned it in my most recent tweet, but to tell you the truth, for a player to complain about not receiving good court slots and attention and then to be aggressively rude in the press when people are attempting to make her fascinating…nothing more than a fundamental lack of knowledge regarding how to be successful in the entertainment industry.

Ben Rothenberg ‘Longer Tournaments Are Tiring Sometimes’: Rybakina On Health Issues
As of Wednesday, May 29th, 2024

“And this is an established pattern with Rybakina particularly, to be clear…entitlement and resentment about not thriving in this part of the job without putting in any effort to do this part of the job.”

The video in which Rybakina delivered the sarcastic press conference has scored one million impressions in just 24 hours on X (previously Twitter). TennisONE reporter, commonly known as Vansh, was less tough in his comments.

“Honestly, I get Elena is frustrated, but that’s just part of the job. Journalists have to ask specific questions. She could “make it interesting” and go in different areas with them if she wanted to strive harder at it and get the media to understand her personality better.”

There were varied reactions, with some urging for tennis players to be granted the flexibility to attend press conferences for the benefit of their mental well-being.

“Give players a couple free passes each year where they can skip press if they just aren’t into it that day or for mental health reasons. I give her a pass… anyone can have a day like this. It’s not really gonna work for her to do this routinely tho Her dad who worked in media knows.”