Beep, beep! Elena Rybakina has finally gotten her driver's license
That Porsche she won last year in Stuttgart is finally getting a workout.
Watch out, world: Elena Rybakina's on the road. After leading Kazakhstan to a 2-1 victory over hosts Australia in its first round-robin tie of the Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers on Friday, the world No. 10 admitted she's recently achieved a long-awaited goal: getting her driver's license.
That means that Rybakina has finally been able to drive the flashy car she won as a result of storming through the field at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart last year. She snapped two-time defending champion Iga Swiatek's Stuttgart winning streak in the semifinals, before topping Marta Kostyuk in straight sets, to win her third career clay-court title at the Porsche Arena last spring, and joked that winning the car would be "double motiviation" to finally become a licensed driver.
Read more: Without a driver's license, what will Elena Rybakina do with the Stuttgart Porsche?
Nearly a year later, and after she was even featured in social media materials for the Dubai-based Galadari Driving School in the offseason, the "driving's going pretty well," she said after beating Kimberly Birrell 6-3, 7-6(4) to clinch the tie following Yulia Putintseva's 6-2, 6-1 victory over Maya Joint.
But it's come with one big drawback.
"I've been going around with the team, dropping and taking everybody, so I'm kind of a driver!"
Due to her national team commitment, Rybakina has elected not to defend her title in Stuttgart, which begins on Monday. But she'll hope her decision will pay off in helping to put Kazakhstan through to the Billie Jean King Cup Finals for the third straight year when Kazakhstan faces Colombia, which is playing in Brisbane without its top player and recent Bogota champion Camila Osorio, to close out Group D play on Saturday.