"Elena Rybakina is happy now" - Ellen Perez on Kazakh after "petty" French Open press conference snub

Ellen Perez delivered her verdict on Elena Rybakina being snubbed by the media at the French Open. Rybakina was not requested by media in the claycourt Major's press room following her straight-sets second-round win over Arantxa Rus. The snub was a result of the Kazakh's unusually curt answers during a press conference after winning her first-round match against Greet Minnen.

World No. 4 Rybakina got her 2024 French Open campaign underway on Tuesday, May 28, against Minnen under a closed roof on Court Suzanne Lenglen. The Kazakh registered a comfortable victory over the Belgian and headed to the press room following the completion of the post-match on-court formalities.

However, during the presser, she bizarrely chose to give brief answers to the questions asked by the journalists present there. At one point, Rybakina said:

"I don’t know guys, the questions are quite the same, so I don’t know what to say anymore."

The media, seemingly offended by the Kazakh's behavior, decided unanimously not to field any questions to her following her 6-3, 6-4, second-round victory against Rus. Perez, the World No. 7 in doubles, assessed the situation revolving around Rybakina on X (formerly Twitter).

According to the Australian, some of the questions Rybakina was asked during the press conference following her win over Minnen were "mundane". However, Perez said that some questions were genuinely "fine". The 28-year-old concluded her post by writing that Rybakina is probably "happy" with the way things turned out, despite the media's "petty" snub.

"Do I think her answers were great. No. Do I think some of the questions were mundane. Sure. Do I think some of the questions were fine. Sure. Do I think the journos are being petty. Absolutely. Do I think she's happy now. YEP," Perez wrote, followed by a laughing emoji.

Chris Evert defended Elena Rybakina after video featuring Kazakh gained traction on social media

Former World No. 1 Chris Evert was not at all understanding of the criticism that came Rybakina's way due to her curt responses while answering the media's questions. On social media, a video (now-deleted) that featured a compilation of the Kazakh's brief answers, was captioned 'Elena Rybakina snaps at reporters after win'.

Evert took notice of the video and commented on it, ridiculing the caption.

"What???? you call this snappy? omg, you guys are reaching," Evert wrote in her comment on Instagram, followed by three laughing emojis.

Rybakina, seeded fourth at this year's French Open, is set to face No. 25 seed Elise Mertens in the third round on Saturday, June 1.