She knew she had put in the work and had long-term dreams for herself, but she wasn’t happy with her pre-tournament preparation and had struggled with injuries recently. Rybakina, 23, didn’t have high expectations for herself when she started playing in the tournament.
1 Related But match after match, against opponents like Simona Halep and Bianca Andreescu, both former major champions, Rybakina proved to herself what she was capable of. And on Saturday, Rybakina stunned the world — even herself — with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Ons Jabeur on Center Court for the first major title of her career. After the final point was won as Jaber’s backhand went out of bounds, the normally reserved Rybakina puffed out her cheeks and shook her head, seemingly in disbelief. He only smiled after shaking hands with Jabber and the chair umpire. “I’m really speechless,” Rybakina told the court moments later. “To be a winner is just amazing, I have no words to say how happy I am.” So how did Rybakina win on Saturday and what does that mean going forward? Here are our basic ingredients. The moment Elena Rybakina became Wimbledon champion 👏 #Wimbledon | #CentreCourt100 pic.twitter.com/gVCU9oqxx5 — Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 9, 2022
This serving
Entering the match, Rybakina had a tournament-high 49 aces — 19 more than any other woman — and was averaging eight per match. Not to mention, she had the second-fastest serve speed among women at a blistering 122 mph (trailing only Coco Gauff’s 124 mph). It has been a dominant, and almost unstoppable, advantage for Rybakina for a fortnight. But in the opening set on Saturday, Jabeur completely blew it — and Rybakina failed to register an ace for the first set all tournament. But this decline in dominance did not last. Rybakina rediscovered her serve — and form, and overall level — in the second set. In the last game of the set she won every point on her serve and sealed the set with an ace. Ultimately, he had four aces on the day, including one that hit 117 mph in the final game of the match, and perhaps most impressively, he didn’t break again.
Fighting spirit
Never one to show much emotion on court, Rybakina remained calm and composed despite not having the crowd on her side and controlling Jabeur early on. If she was stressed, it never showed. When she returned to the court for the second set, she looked like a new player — with an answer for everything Jabeur sent her way. It was a shocking upset and never gave Jabeur a chance to get back into the match and almost completely silenced the crowd in the process. The steadfast Rybakina never shouted “come on” or “let’s go”, never even offered a hint of a smile and appeared clinically focused on the next point. While Jabeur had a series of follow-up errors, Rybakina never took her foot off the gas. Forever part of Wimbledon history. #Wimbledon | #CentreCourt100 pic.twitter.com/e9nDLrstli — Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 9, 2022
The creator of history
Currently ranked No. 23, Rybakina became the first woman ranked outside the WTA top 20 to win at Wimbledon since Venus Williams in 2007. And she became the first woman to win at the All England Club after missing the first set since Amelie Mauresmo in 2006 and the youngest woman to win the title since Petra Kvitova in 2011. Rybakina was already the first player representing Kazakhstan to reach a major final, but now she is the first to lift the trophy. While the achievement is monumental for the Central Asian nation, Rybakina’s nationality has come under scrutiny over the past two weeks. Born and raised in Russia, she switched federations in 2018 — Kazakhstan was formerly part of the Soviet Union and borders Russia — in order to gain additional funding for her career. With Russian and Belarusian players banned from Wimbledon this year due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Rybakina has been repeatedly asked about her allegiances and current ties to her homeland. While she downplayed her connection to Russia and said she was “really happy” to represent Kazakhstan, she is believed to still primarily reside in Moscow and added a layer of intrigue to the trophy presentation. However, in front of the crowd and the glowing eyes of the cameras, both Rybakina and the Duchess of Cambridge were all smiles and pleasantries with the Venus Rosewater Dish.
The future is bright
Despite the landmark win — and collecting a $2.4 million payday — Rybakina won’t see her efforts rewarded in the rankings. With the WTA deducting ranking points from Wimbledon due to the ban on Russian and Belarusian players, Rybakina will remain ranked No. 23 on Monday. During any other major, Rybakina would have earned an additional 2,000 points and cracked the top 10 for the first time in her career. However, Rybakina now enters the hard court of the season as a Grand Slam winner and will look to improve on her career-best performance in the third round at the US Open. She had previously won one of her two pre-Wimbledon titles on the surface (in Hobart in 2020) and now with momentum and confidence on her side, she could have even more success.
