A few months into the 2020 season, one of the most startling revelations has been the rise of Elena Rybakina. After surging up the rankings the previous season, she soon became impossible to ignore. Tournament after tournament, her wins piled up and as she destroyed serves and bulldozed shots from both wings, she seemed destined to keep going.
Instead, the pandemic hit, and after the tour resumed, Rybakina struggled to find her way. Her fleeting moments of perfection were accompanied by disappointment as she patiently awaited a breakthrough. It finally came. At the end of a wonderful fortnight, when her form and confidence gradually blossomed, Rybakina finally reached the very pinnacle of the sport.
After overcoming all the nerves and tension accompanying her first Grand Slam final and an extremely steady start from her opponent, Rybakina managed to come back from a set down to beat third seed Ons Jabert 3-6, 6-2 , 6-2 and became Wimbledon champion.
The 23-year-old is the first Kazakh player to win a Grand Slam singles tournament. Being born in Russia, she changed her citizenship to Kazakhstan in 2018 after receiving financial support from the national federation. The Duchess of Cambridge was present to present the trophy.
After the All England Club chose to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing in the tournament due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it is ironic that the tournament ended with the best Russian-born talent of the new generation breaking through. However, her success has had a negative impact on the Russian tennis system, which has lost a number of talents to Kazakhstan due to a lack of funding, while most of its best players train abroad.
Elena Rybakina came from behind to beat Ons Jabeur. Photo: Tom Jenkins/The Observer
As cries of ‘yalla’ and ‘allez’ rang out for Jabeur, the first Arab and African player to reach a Grand Slam singles final in the Open era, Jabeur was determined to disrupt Rybakina with her sophisticated, varied game. She extended the plays, forced Rybakina to crouch to meet her pieces and peppered Rybakina with drop shots.
Jabeur broke serve for 2-1 and then she marched through her service games to take the set.
The momentum shifted sharply early in the second set. Jabeur opened by giving away a cheap serve with a series of unforced errors, scoring a forehand on break point.
Rybakina quickly began to play on her terms, harassing Jabert from the top of the baseline, and the Tunisian herself became too tight. Jabeur struggled to hit the ball and establish himself in the match, and the few times he tried to unleash his forehand, he made a lot of errors. In the end, Jabert relied too much on her finesse and was too predictable.
After Rybakina took the second set, the crowd kept trying to revive Jabert and while she was 2-3 behind, she responded by generating three break points at 0-40 with a stunning lob. With her back against the wall, Rybakina hit four first serves in five points at speeds of 117 mph and more, and she hit the ball with complete freedom. She saved every break point, held serve and never looked back as she cruised to her first Grand Slam title.
Ons Jabeur fights against Rybakina’s power. Photo: Tom Jenkins/The Observer
In her short time on the tour, Rybakina’s composure, even after her biggest wins, has become her trademark. As she achieved her childhood dreams, for which she had worked all her life, Rybakina was as humble as ever, with a smile that barely flashed across her face after a match point. “When I was giving a speech at the end I was thinking, ‘I’m going to cry now,’ but somehow I held it back. Maybe later, when I’m alone in the room, I’ll cry non-stop. I don’t know,” Rybakina said.
With no ranking points on offer this year, Rybakina will drop to 23rd, although under normal circumstances she would have risen to a new ranking of around sixth, but it’s a priceless win and she’s moved up another level. She has the weapons and temperament to win more Grand Slam titles and compete on any surface.
“Maybe I proved that you don’t always have to have a great team from an early age because I didn’t make it until I was 17-18. So I think that’s the most important thing that everybody, no matter what their financial situation is, no matter who they are, they can play and achieve very great results,” she said.
Even in a career that seems to unlock new firsts for her region and continent every week, it was a special week for Jabeur, although it ended in major disappointment. Everything she has achieved is the result of gradual evolution. Now ranked No. 2 and a Grand Slam finalist at 27, Jabeur has taken another step forward and put herself in position to go down that road again.
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Afterward, Jabeur said her determination to win that title was so strong that she changed her phone’s lock screen to a photo of the Venus Rosewater Dish, which she showed her audience at the press conference.
“I’ve done everything since the beginning of the year to really focus on this tournament. I even have the photo of the trophy on my phone. But it wasn’t meant to be. I can’t force things. I’m probably not ready to be a Grand Slam champion. I look forward to the next one,” she said.
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