"Djokovic & Osaka give more thoughtful answers" - Fans confused by Elena Rybakina's bizarre French Open press conference

Elena Rybakina booked her spot in the second round of the 2024 French Open on Tuesday, beating Greet Minnen 6-2, 6-3 with a solid display. However, the Kazakh's post-match press conference has taken over the tennis world for all the wrong reasons.

Rybakina, known for her unemotional demeanour on the tennis court, appeared largely unimpressed by the questions posed to her by journalists during the session. Apart from shooting them down left and right, the World No. 4 went as far as to point out the repetitive nature of the queries put to her at pressers.

"I don’t know guys, the questions are quite the same so I don’t know what to say anymore," Rybakina said at one point.

Videos and transcripts of the former Wimbledon champion's press interaction soon surfaced on social media, where tennis fans were left confused by the nature of her attitude.

Some felt that the questions that were asked to her were pretty standard, blaming Rybakina instead for not giving more thoughtful answers, like other charismatic players like Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka. Fans also felt that she was being "rude" to the journalists who were just doing their job.

"Literally just skip press if you’re gonna have this attitude lmao," one fan said.

"These are normal questions, its her answers that are boring and have no substance. You ask Djokovic and Osaka the same questions and they give more thoughtful answers. You could give all kinds of interesting details on how the court plays with the roof on," another said.

"At what point does it go from ‘yaas queen in her villain era 💅’ to ‘you’re just f**king rude to people doing their job," one user wrote.

A small minority of the fans shared their opinion that Elena Rybakina was well within her right to call out the journalists for not asking more original questions.

"Ryba to the journalists: Can you guys ask new and more original questions? I think it's also boring for the fans not only the athletes. She made a point," one user contradicted.

"Does any sport match tennis in terms of letting in clueless, uninformed and ignorant journalists year after year?" one fan lamented.

However, the overwhelming sentiment appeared against the 24-year-old and her inability to better market herself to the tennis media.

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

"You can blame WTA management all day long for not promoting their players but when a top player resembles a robot on court and has this attitude off-court there's only so much PR-folks could do," one fan said.

"I detect a bit of arrogance here. Meeting with the journalists is part of what an athlete has to face. It might seem repetitive at times but they deserve respect as well…" one fan said.

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Elena Rybakina to take on Arantxa Rus in French Open second round

Elena Rybakina

Following her win over Greet Minnen, Elena Rybakina will take on Arantxa Rus in the second round of the 2024 French Open. The Dutchwoman took down Angelique Kerber in the first round at Roland Garros.

A win on Thursday will pit Elena Rybakina against Elise Mertens or Petra Martic in the next round, followed by a potential high-profile clash against Elina Svitolina in the fourth round in Paris.