A few months into the 2020 season, one of the most startling revelations was the rise of Elena Rybakina. After stealthily breezing up the rankings in the previous season, she soon became impossible to ignore. Tournament after tournament, her wins piled up and as she demolished serves and bulldozed groundstrokes off both wings, she seemed destined to carry on.
Instead, the pandemic struck and upon the resumption of the tour Rybakina struggled to find her way. Her fleeting moments of excellence were accompanied with frustration and she patientiently awaited a breakthrough. Finally, it has come. A wonderful two weeks when she continually picked up steam means Rybakina has arrived at the very top of the sport.
After navigating all of the nerves and tension that accompanied her maiden grand slam final, Rybakina recovered from a one set deficit to overpower Ons Jabeur, the third seed, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to become Wimbledon champion.
The 23-year-old is the first Kazakhstani player to win a grand slam singles tournament. Having been born in Russia and represented her country of birth until the age of 19, Rybakina switched nationality to Kazakhstan in 2018 after being offered financial support by the national federation.
After the All England Club opted to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing in the tournament due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which the ATP and WTA responded to by removing ranking points, it is deeply ironic the tournament ended with the best Russia-born talent of the new generation breaking through. As planned, the Duchess of Cambridge was present to hand over the trophy.
As cries of “yalla” and “allez” rang out for Jabeur, the first Arab player and African woman to reach a grand slam final in the Open era, the challenge before her was made immediately clear by Rybakina as she slammed down a 119mph unreturned bomb on the opening point of the match and then snapped a forehand winner to hold serve.
Rybakina is one of the biggest servers in the sport and she is destructive off both wings when her feet are set and she is feeling the ball.
But Jabeur was determined to disrupt Rybakina with her complex, varied game and she was sharp from the beginning. She lengthened the rallies, she forced Rybakina to constantly bend her knees with copious slices and she peppered Rybakina with drop shots, bringing her forward and then flicked backhand passing shots by her. Jabeur broke serve for 2-1 and then she marched through her service games to take the set. Rybakina ended the set desperately nervous, missing easy forehands and capitulating in the final game.
But the momentum abruptly shifted at the beginning of the second set. Jabeur started the set by giving away a cheap service game with a series of unforced errors, netting a forehand on break point. Energised by the first sign of weakness, Rybakina held serve and as she grew in confidence she began to crush Jabeur’s second serve and anticipate Jabeur’s drop shots. As Rybakina began to play on her terms, bullying Jabeur around the court, the Tunisian became far too tight herself and she could not impose her game on the match.
Rybakina finished the second set by raining down service winners and it continued into the third set as she broke to take a 2-0 lead, winning six games in seven. After charming the crowd with ample showboating early on, Jabeur became increasingly frustrated as the match seemed to be slipping away.
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As she stepped up to serve while trailing by a break, the crowd continually tried to animate Jabeur. At 2-3, she responded, generating triple break point with a wondrous lob. With her back to the wall, Rybakina landed first serves over 115mph and she struck the ball with total freedom. She saved each break point, she held serve and then she marched on to her first grand slam title.
