Birmingham 2009
Like a dream
Rybáriková won her first title by beating Li Na 6-0, 7-6. "It's the best feeling in my career. It's unbelievable. It's like a dream," she said. Li's verdict: "I was missing a lot today."
Source: Tennis-X, 14 June 2009The 21st century
Magdaléna Rybáriková
Slovakia · born Piešťany, 1988 · right-handed · Birmingham champion in 2009 and the first Slovak woman in a Wimbledon semi-final, in 2017
All playersBack to the rankings
6-0, 7-6
Birmingham final of 2009 against Li Na, her first WTA title
2017
Wimbledon semi-final, the first by a Slovak woman, ranked 87th
No. 3
Ranking of Karolína Plíšková, beaten in the second round at Wimbledon in 2017
No. 17
Career-high ranking, reached after the 2017 grass season
4
WTA singles titles
Playing career
Magdaléna Rybáriková was born in Piešťany, Czechoslovakia, in 1988. As a junior she reached the girls' singles final at Wimbledon in 2006, losing to Caroline Wozniacki. She won her first WTA title on grass at Birmingham in 2009, beating Li Na in the final, and went on to win four WTA singles titles.
Her career was repeatedly interrupted by injury. In 2016 she had knee and wrist surgery and was out for about seven months; by March 2017 she had fallen outside the top 450. She came back through the ITF circuit, winning four titles including two on grass at Surbiton and Ilkley, and then reached the Wimbledon semi-finals unseeded. She rose to a career-high No. 17 in March 2018 and reached two more finals, both lost to Petra Kvitová.
In 2014 she also reached the Wimbledon doubles semi-finals with Andrea Petkovic. Her last Grand Slam appearance was at Wimbledon in 2019, where she beat the tenth seed Aryna Sabalenka in the first round. She announced her retirement on 29 October 2020, at 32.
On grass
| Birmingham 2009 | Beat Li Na 6-0, 7-6 (7-2) in the final for her first WTA title. Li had beaten Maria Sharapova in the semi-final |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon 2017 | Ranked 87th and unseeded: beat Monica Niculescu, the No. 3 seed Karolína Plíšková 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 on Centre Court from a set and a break down, Lesia Tsurenko 6-2, 6-1, Petra Martić 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 and CoCo Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-3. Lost the semi-final to the eventual champion Garbiñe Muguruza 6-1, 6-1 in just over an hour |
| Grass season 2017 | Won the ITF $100,000 events at Surbiton and Ilkley in the run-up to Wimbledon, then reached the semi-finals at Nottingham before the Championships |
| Wimbledon girls' singles 2006 | Seeded sixth, lost the final to Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) |
| Wimbledon first-round record | Lost in the first round in seven straight years, 2008 to 2014, before the 2017 run |
Every grass title: 1
Show every title, tournament by tournament
| Birmingham | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Women's singles | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. † single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"If somebody told me before the tournament I'd to be in semi-final, I for sure would take it."
Anecdotes
The person behind the player.
2017
Back from 453
After knee and wrist operations kept her out for about seven months, Rybáriková returned in 2017 and won four ITF titles, two of them on grass at Surbiton and Ilkley, to climb back to No. 87 by Wimbledon.
Source: WTAWimbledon 2017
A warning from Plíšková
Before their second-round match, the No. 3 seed Karolína Plíšková said: "I know she can be really dangerous." Rybáriková came back from a set and a break down to win in three sets.
Source: WTAWimbledon 2017 · Semi-final
Nerves on Centre Court
Against Garbiñe Muguruza she won two games. "I was a little bit nervous, a little bit tired also in my legs," she said, and added that she had wanted to give her supporters more.
Source: Malay Mail (AFP), 14 July 20172020
Retirement by Instagram
Rybáriková had planned to end her career at the Fed Cup Finals in Budapest, but the pandemic intervened, and she announced her retirement on Instagram in October 2020: "After almost 15 years of many ups and some downs, I am incredibly grateful for everything this amazing sport has given me."
Source: WTAJoin Grass Tennis Club
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Where they won on grass
- Edgbaston Priory Club, Birmingham
- All England Club, Wimbledon
- Surbiton, Surrey (ITF event)
- Ilkley, Yorkshire (ITF event)
- Find a grass court near you
Rivals and partners
On Grass Tennis Club
Elsewhere online
Sources
- Wimbledon Compendium 2025, AELTC
- "Rybarikova wins first career title on grass at WTA Birmingham", Tennis-X, 14 June 2009
- "Returning Rybarikova stuns Pliskova in 2017 Cinderella run", WTA
- "I didn't know what to do, says crushed Rybarikova", Malay Mail (AFP), 14 July 2017
- "Rybarikova makes retirement official", WTA, 29 October 2020
- Magdaléna Rybáriková, Wikipedia
- GTC roll of grass champions, checked against a second source where one exists
Page updated 4 November 2026. Spotted an error? Send a correction.
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