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!”
