Elena Rybakina before the final against Sabalenka: "I'm in pain, but I will give it my all"

She has never seemed so close to the title... and yet. Following her semifinal victory in Riyadh, Elena Rybakina revealed she is suffering with her right shoulder ahead of facing Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the WTA Finals.

Still undefeated in these WTA Finals, Elena Rybakina seems to be on the verge of breaking down physically. After her semifinal win against Jessica Pegula (4-6, 6-4, 6-3), the world number 6 admitted she is in pain with her right shoulder.

A physical issue that could prevent her from competing at 100% tomorrow against world number 1 Aryna Sabalenka:

"I hope to recover properly for tomorrow. Of course, I'm playing a lot of matches in a row and I serve quite hard, so I've had to adjust all that a little. I'm giving it my all... There's only one match left to play, so I will do everything I possibly can to recover.

At the same time, I don't want it to get worse right before the start of the off-season. We'll see. For now, I've managed to handle it properly, and I hope it won't be worse tomorrow."