Elena Rybakina seemed to start her run at the 2026 US Open off on the wrong foot, so to speak. A left ankle injury that had forced her out of the Cincinnati Open on August 20 had left in doubt the 27-year-old Kazakhstani star’s chances at the final Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year at Flushing Meadows, New York City.

But after a week of rest, the rest, as they say, was history. She’s subsequently navigated through the first four rounds of the U.S. Open without dropping a single set before topping Qinwen Zheng in the quarterfinals and Coco Gauff in the semifinals via a pair of gripping three-set matches to reach Saturday’s women’s singles final.

That’s where Rybakina will take on Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who incidentally was number one in the world for 99 consecutive weeks until Thursday. And take a wild guess as to who replaced Sabalenka at the top spot. Here’s a hint—her name rhymes with Elena Rybakina.

What Was Elena Rybakina’s Injury At Cincinnati

Before the main draw of the U.S. Open started on August 30, though, Rybakina was more than ankle deep in others speculating as to what was going on with her ankle. During the first set of her August 20 quarterfinal match against Poland’s Iga Świątek at the Cincinnati Open, it was clear that Rybakina was struggling. Świątek pulled ahead 4-1 before Rybakina finally decided to default from the match.

Rybakina later elaborated that she had already been having pain there well before the match. She also indicated that it had hurt to walk for a couple days after the match and that she received medical evaluations. When Rybakina ended up staying off the court for a week, speculation mounted as to whether the 2022 Wimbledon and 2026 Australian open women’s singles champion would be able to live up to her number two seeding at the 2026 U.S. Open.

Some news reports mentioned the big “A” word when covering Rybakina’s injury. No, not “avocado” but “Achilles”—as in some kind of injury to her Achilles tendon. But this specific diagnosis was never confirmed. The Women’s Tennis Association instead called it a left ankle injury—which is a bit vague because let’s make no bones about it, there are a number of different structures in the ankle that can get damaged in different ways.

What Are The Possible Ankle Injuries?

In fact, an ankle is a make bones about it situation. It’s the confluence of three different bones—the tibia and fibula from the lower leg and the talus from the foot. Of course, any of these bones could get fractured by a force that’s strong enough and in the wrong direction. And fractures can range from very small microfractures to much larger ones that can get displaces and thus require surgery to correct, as I’ve described before in Forbes .

The ankle also has multiple ligaments—which are bands of connective tissue—that help hold these ankle bones together. Ligaments can get stretched and torn. I’ve written in Forbes about ankle ligament tears, otherwise known as ankle sprains, when they’ve happed to French footballer Kylian Mbappé before the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Dodger Freddie Freeman during the 2024 National League Championship Series and Brazil’s Neymar during the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Then, there are various tendons around the ankle—bands of connective tissue that connects muscles to bones. The largest tendon is the Achilles tendon that runs along the back of the ankle, connecting the calf muscles to the heel bone. This tendon activates when one pushes off the ground to walk, run or jump. Other tendons include two peroneal ones that run alongside the outer part of the ankle, the posterior tibial tendon runs along the inside and extensor and flexor tendons that help lift the toes upwards or curl them downwards.

Tendons can get inflamed, which is called tendonitis, because “-itis” at the end of any body part means inflammation of that body part. If someone asks you whether you’d like some tendonitis, just say, “No” and stay away from that person because tendonitis can be quite painful and persistent. Tendons can also get torn or even ruptured, which would be an even more serious situation potentially requiring surgery.

Rybakina Had Tougher Quarterfinal And Semifinal Matches

Now, Rybakina didn’t really show signs of a serious ankle injury during the first four rounds of the U.S. Open. She didn’t play her best tennis—the type of big serving tennis this year that has earned her the World’s Number One ranking. But she did score an impressive 6-1 6-4 Round of 16 win over Japan’s Naomi Osaka, who has won the U.S. Open twice.

Things got tougher in the quarterfinal against Zheng. Zheng took the first set 6-3 before Rybakina stormed back 6-1 and 6-4. That was on Wednesday.

Then the next day Rybakina had to take on the fourth seeded American Coco Gauff. Once again, Rybakina had to climb out from being one set down after Gauff took the first set 6-3. Rybakina came back with a 6-4, 6-4 pair in the second and third set to earn a spot in her fourth career grand slam final.

Next up is Sabalenka in a rematch of the 2026 Australian Open final won by Rybakina 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 back in January. Rybakina is the underdog against the two-time defending champion Sabalenka.