Even though Elena Rybakina is Russian born, she was allowed to compete at Wimbledon this year because she represents Kazakhstan internationally. On Saturday, Rybakina won Wimbledon in a year when Russians and Belarusians were unable to compete because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the process, Rybakina became the first grand slam singles champion in tennis to ever represent Kazakhstan.
In the women’s final, Rybakina beat Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 despite not recording an ace throughout the entire match. It was the return of serve that went in Rybakina’s favour. Rybakina broke Jabeur thrice in eight opportunities, while Jabeur only broke Rybakina once.
In a match that lasted one hour and 48 minutes, it was Rybakina who seemed to dictate play after a bit of a slow start. She had 29 winners compared to only 17 for Jabeur. Rybakina also won 17 points at the net, compared to seven for Jabeur, and 58% of her second serve points, compared to 48% for Jabeur.
This was Rybakina’s third career win. She previously won the 2019 Bucharest Open, where she defeated Patricia Maria Tig of Romania in the final, 6-2, 6-0. Rybakina then defeated Shuai Zhang of China 7-6, 6-3 in the final of the Hobart International in Australia in January of 2020. Rybakina had lost four straight WTA Finals before beating Jabeur.
Even though Rybakina was victorious, her efforts will not be reflective in the WTA rankings. That is because due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the fact Russians and Belarusians were barred from the tournament, the WTA decided not to award any points this year. This made Wimbledon less significant than the French Open.
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