Jelena Rybakina put Kazakhstan on the tennis map with her Wimbledon triumph. After a nervous start, the Russian native triumphed over Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in the final of the world’s most important tournament, winning the first Grand Slam title for the nation she has served for since 2018.
After 1:47 hours, Rybakina converted her first match point to 3:6, 6:2, 6:2. Jabeur missed the coronation two days after her semi-final victory over the German Wimbledon surprise Tatjana Maria. The second in the world rankings had started strongly, but lost her serve and then her line at the beginning of the second set.
As against Maria, the 27-year-old seemed too playful at times, while Rybakina was surprisingly cool. She reacted to her opponent’s variation with no-frills tennis, just as no-frills as she had faced the questions about her origins. Rybakina is from Moscow, her parents live there. The ban on the Russian and Belarusian pros at Wimbledon because of the attack on Ukraine was one of the big issues at the tournament. “I’ve played for Kazakhstan for a long time, I’m happy to represent Kazakhstan,” Rybakina said. You’ve already done that at the Olympics and in the Fed Cup.
Rybakina fended off nine break balls against Jabeur
And now also in the Wimbledon final, which initially did not go according to their ideas. She gave up her serve twice in the first set, according to Wimbledon record champion Martina Navratilova “currently the greatest weapon in women’s tennis”. Jabeur, on the other hand, achieved a lot, but by no means everything. The burden she had taken on herself was pressing down on her shoulders more and more by the minute.
Beaten favourite: Ons Jabeur.
(Photo: Sebastien Bozon/AFP)
Jabeur kept erupting on Center Court, while Rybakina showed no emotion. The 23-year-old, who is only playing Wimbledon for the second time in her career, has long been considered a great promise on the tennis circuit, but the pandemic had slowed her rise somewhat. In 2021 she reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon and the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam at Roland Garros for the first time. That year she played the tournament of her life on Church Road in South West London.
Her draw was a tough one: Among other things, Rybakina beat two-time Wimbledon quarterfinalist Coco Vandeweghe, former US Open winner Bianca Andreescu and in the semifinals Simona Halep, the 2019 Wimbledon champion. In addition to the strong serves and powerful basic strokes remarkable nervous costume added. Rybakina fended off nine breakballs against Jabeur – three of them in the middle of the third set before she made the preliminary decision to make it 5: 2.
