Elena Rybakina overthrows Jabeur to be crowned Wimbledon champion !

The match ball, Jabeur’s backhand, is largely out and we could have expected to see a Rybakina in ecstasy, but she preferred simplicity, probably by respect for the Russians and Belorussians excluded from the tournament. Outwardly, a clenched fist, a gasp of relief and then a smile were enough to make the young Kazakh happy, who stayed impassive, as she did throughout the match. To contain her emotions like that at the end and during a match of such importance, against such an opponent, it must not be easy. Her opponent, Ons Jabeur, still found her big smile during the award ceremony despite the fact that she did not manage to realize her dream of becoming the first African woman to win a Grand Slam.

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Jabeur had started so well

In the first set, the Tunisian gave Rybakina a lesson in just about everything! Tactically and technically, Jabeur was clearly on top. 75% of first ball, precision in the exchanges (5 small unforced errors), delicate racket strokes to show all her agility, without forgetting her backhand slices to prevent the Kazakh from developing her game, Ons Jabeur was in a state of grace and even closed the set by breaking Rybakina. The 23-year-old Kazakh didn’t let anything show, but deep inside she was nervous (as she mentioned later). Her 17 unforced errors are a testament to that.

Rybakina, the impassive champ

Elena Rybakina was overwhelmed by the stress of her first set, but as soon as she started the second, a new match began. Ons Jabeur was on a roll with her first set, but she lost her concentration and especially her serve. To confirm her break, the Kazakh first had to erase a break point and before that, make up for a misjudgment on one of her forehands at 40-30, which went unnoticed. The main thing is that she confirms and to lead 3-1, the world No. 23 had to fight and show her solidity to save three new break points in a game that lasted more than 8 minutes. This battle proved to be the turning point of the set as she went on to double-break and see the Tunisian commit more unforced errors. In numbers, that’s 9 unforced errors for Jabeur and 7 for Rybakina. A cross-over that illustrates a trend opposite to that of the first set. In addition, Elena became a great friend again with her main weapon, the forehand, which became much more precise. And against a Tunisian player who’s losing ground, her missiles do much more damage and allow her to pile up 13 winning shots (compared to 7 in the first act).

But if there is still one area in which the Kazakh is lacking, it is at the net. And Jabeur knew it. Many dropshots were distilled to dislodge Rybakina from her comfort zone and get her to the net. And this tactic paid off on many occasions for the world No. 2 as her opponent missed a number of volleys and half-volleys. But, since there is always a but, this game plan sometimes led the Tunisian to foil and therefore miss several points, and when she foils, she often tends to get in trouble. In fact, at the start of the final set, after a strong first point, Jabeur lost her serve game. Rybakina kept her break in the following games and then came the game where she served to bring the score to 4-2. Ons Jabeur, who was starting to regain her color and once again delight the crowd, leads 0-40 on her opponent’s serve, has built up a lot of momentum on just a few points and seems poised to break. But Elena had the nerve to take the first three break points and then erased them with five points in a row to keep her lead. Once again, the set turned. Jabeur loses behind her serve and shows her very low first ball quality in this last set (32% first ball). The Kazakh concluded the match, as she did in the previous set, with a 6-2 win and became the first Grand Slam winner of her career.

Muscovite champion, irony of fate

Elena was born and raised in Russia before becoming a naturalized Kazakh in 2018. Quite a funny situation when you consider that the tournament organizers made the decision to keep Russian and Belarusian players out of the tournament in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This partly explains Rybakina’s sober celebration after winning the match. It is also worth noting that without the decision to exceptionally remove the points from the tournament, the Kazakh would have climbed to No. 6 in the world with her final victory in the London Major. But whatever the case, there is one thing that cannot be taken away from Elena Rybakina: she is the first Kazakh in history to win a Grand Slam.