After a fortnight in which she stunned her opponents with her powerful and determined game, Elena Rybakina lifted her first Grand Slam trophy on Saturday at Wimbledon and offered Kazakhstan, which she has represented since 2018, her first major title. .
In a tournament from which Russians and Belarusians had been excluded in retaliation for the war in Ukraine, it was therefore a 23-year-old player, born, raised and residing in Moscow who won by beating Tunisian Ons Jabeur ( World N.2) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
“I was super nervous before the game, during the game, and I’m very happy that it’s over. I have never felt anything like it, ”said Rybakina (23rd) without managing to expose his inner joy.
She succeeds Australian Ashleigh Barty, who retired in March.
“To tell the truth, I didn’t expect to reach the second week of a Grand Slam at Wimbledon. So winning the tournament is really amazing. I don’t have the words to say how happy I am,” added the player who had never made it past the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tournament (Roland-Garros 2021).
Unlike Jabeur, who had prepared by winning the grass tournament in Berlin and who therefore had a series of eleven games won in a row on this surface, Rybakina’s preparation had not been optimal.
“Bulky formwork”
His upward trajectory in 2019 had been abruptly cut short by months marred by COVID, injuries and health glitches. And she had won only one match on grass, at ‘s-Hertogenbosch, in two preparatory tournaments at Wimbledon.
But from the height of her 1.84m, the one who is now the youngest winner of the Major on grass since the Czech Petra Kvitova in 2011 rained down aces, twirled the winning shots and sent all her opponents back to the locker room. Including 2019 champion and ex-world No.1 Simona Halep.
Before the final, Rybakina had scored 144 winners and 49 aces in six matches. In a final match where her service played tricks on her, she nevertheless added 4 aces and 29 winners.
“She has such potential… She is still rough in many areas and we have a long process ahead of us,” commented her coach Stefano Vukov to the BBC.
Although the player, pressed with questions about her nationality, insisted at length on the fact that she had been playing for Kazakhstan “for a long time” and that she had “represented this country in the biggest tournaments including the Olympic Games”, the Russian Federation did not fail to hail its title as one of its own.
Russian “product”
“Well done Rybakina! We win the Wimbledon tournament,” said Federation President Shamil Tarpischev, quoted by the Ria Novosti agency.
The day before, he had stressed that Rybakina was “a product” of the Russian federation, adding: “We will support her in the final”.
If Rybakina’s joy was very contained, the player having had for any external manifestation of an ecstatic happiness only a few climbing movements to go up to the stand to kiss her loved ones, Jabeur’s disappointment was visibly at the height of his hopes.
“Elena stole my title, but it’s okay! “, tried to joke the Tunisian, nicknamed “the Minister of Happiness” in her country. However, she admitted to being “really sad”, especially as she “tries to be a source of inspiration for generations” in Tunisia.
As for the winner of the day, “I’m going to have to teach her to celebrate well”, launched Jabeur with a big smile, after having regained his senses and all his humor.
The first Arab player to reach the quarter-finals of a Major, in 2020 in Australia, she is the first from the African continent to have played a Grand Slam final in the professional era (since 1968). And she saw herself being the first to win the supreme title.
But his old-fashioned game, made of variations, slices, drop shots, crashed against Rybakina’s modern game.
The only downside, the victory will not bring any ranking points to Rybakina since the WTA, like the ATP for men, decided not to award any this year, after the tournament, following the exclusion of players. Russians and Belarusians. Glory remains.