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Rybakina, born and raised in Russia, began representing Kazakhstan after the Russian Tennis Federation abandoned her. She defeated Ons Jabeur in 3 sets to win the women’s singles title.
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By Matthieu Futterman
WIMBLEDON, England – No one may have known 4 years ago, when Elena Rybakina, born and raised in Russia, played tennis for Kazakhstan that the resolution would be worth it as it did in the summer of 2022.
Rybakina beat Ons Jabeur to win the Wimbledon singles name on Saturday, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, giving the local Russian the sport’s most prestigious championship just over two months after tournament organisers banned players representing Russia from participating.
Rybakina, who began representing Kazakhstan 4 years ago after the former Soviet republic agreed to fund his career, subdued Jabeur, who hesitated and succumbed to inconsistency after taking the lead.
Rybakina, 23, was nervous and trembling at first, for a long time lacking simple balls and struggling to get her first damaging serve on the field, but calmed down as the attack dragged on. Once he figured out his rhythm, Jabeur had few answers. he had a chance to tie it in the 3rd set when Rybakina fell 0-40 with his serve at 3-2, but Jabeur couldn’t finish the attack and Rybakina crossed the backline from there.
On the last point, Rybakina saw Jabeur, the world’s No. 2 ranked player, send one last backhand and strut into the net with a slight celebration. A few minutes later, he went upstairs to his locker room to kiss his team. .
It is Rybakina’s first Grand Slam name and the first for a kazakhstan singles player, who has recruited several men and women from Russia to represent him in tennis over the past 15 years, reversing his progression as part of an effort to make the country more enjoyable. looking west.
It’s a game that would never run out of history, no matter who won.
Jabeur, a 27-year-old Tunisian woman, the first Arab woman and the first African woman to triumph in the Wimbledon final, and the first Arab woman to qualify for a Grand Slam final. She is Muslim and the adjustment fell on Eid al-Adha: the sacrificial supper. The supper commemorates the story of Allah asking Abraham to sacrifice his son as a sign of faith.
There was a time when it seemed like each and every year an American would play for this championship on July 4. But the game and its schedule have changed. The Wimbledon final takes place a week later, and American players, as well as those from each and every other country that has dominated tennis for more than a hundred years, face many more parties in places where the game has only just taken root.
“I feel sad, but it’s tennis. There is only one winner,” Jabeur said while holding the second-place trophy.
Rybakina told the center court crowd that it had been an honor to play in front of the royal box. She thanked Bulat Utemuratov, the billionaire who is president of Kazakhstan’s tennis federation, for believing in her.
“I’ve never felt anything like it,” he said, as Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, stood a few feet away. Prince William did not attend the match. Kate accompanied on the pitch through Ian Hewitt, president of the All England Club, and the boy when explaining the resolution of veto to Russian and Belarusian players in April.
Rybakina, the world’s 23rd player, had never made it past the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament this week. she has become an adult. His parents still live in Russia.
After turning 18, he accepted the opportunity to get an investment for his Kazakhstan tennis career. He represented Kazakhstan in the year of the Tokyo Olympics.
Their run to the final made a tournament tricky, putting politics on the line after tournament organizers tried to keep them at bay by banning Russian and Belarusian players due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The organizers did so at the request of the British government and the royal family. Historically, the Duchess of Cambridge hands the trophy to the Wimbledon winner. Few Britons wanted to see him handed over to a Russian when Britain has been among the leaders in offering help. and arms to Ukraine.
Asked about his emotions about the war at his post-match press conference, Rybakina said his English wasn’t smart enough to perceive the problem, the only 30-minute moment of questioning in which he made that claim.
On the field, Jabeur and Rybakina also promised one of the best contrasts of tastes in the sport. Jabeur’s call is rarely discussed without “cunning” following a few words later. His game is filled with almost any and all types of tennis moves out there.
At any time, you can cut the ball from an angle and with a rotation that makes it articulate while clearing and unearthing the unprotected domain of the area or hitting a forehand on the line. Tennis, for her, is a career and a game but also a game and a way to make her innate creativity explicit.
The question of whether Rybakina would give Jabeur a chance to hit his shots or whether the strength of his serve and his slingshots would take Jabeur off the field.
Very soon, delicacy prevailed over power. Jabeur drew the first blood, forcing a nervous Rybakina to strike from deep within the field. Rybakina struggled with his forehand as Jabeur danced on the grass appearing in the fan of his arsenal. In the fourth game, he cut one of his iconic setbacks in front of Rybakina, who had approached the net. An attack later, he jumped on a moment of duty and sent a forehand that pushed Rybakina back.
Jabeur is a fist pumper, however, when she likes a winner, she just hits, especially one on the move, runs on the grass like a basketball player who just hit a triple. He trotted a lot in the first set, which he won when Rybakina sent a forehand into the centre of the net.
Jabeur rarely plays full matches, even when it turns out he’s heading for a quick afternoon. Especially in tense situations, there is a wobbly, often fatal, and it arrives early at the time set on Saturday.
If the concept of being about to become the Wimbledon champion seemed too big, only she knows. He has focused on this tournament since January, even placing a photo of the Wimbledon winner’s trophy on his phone’s lock screen. But in an instant, the ease and regularity he had shown in the first set disappeared.
“I thought, ‘Don’t lose the set,'” Jabeur said after the match.
She didn’t get the message.
Rybakina broke Jabeur’s serve in the first game of the set for now, and Jabeur never recovered. He tried to lighten the atmosphere, directing a stray ball toward a ball carrier at the end of an attack and looking for a shot between his legs as he chased a balloon. , however, has become more erratic as the set progressed.
Meanwhile, Rybakina shook off her precocious nervousness and told herself it wasn’t what Jabeur had done.
“I’m going to fight to the end,” he said.
He began to get his first serve. The forehand strokes that had sailed a long time at the beginning began to dive into the corners and hit the edges of the lines. He loaded the net to close out the points, ran like never before in an attack and sealed the set with an ace jabeur can only look.
The third set brought more of the same, even as the crowd roared every time she started a serve game, and when she had 3 chances to tie the set in half, she desperately sought to lift her up and keep the Duchess sitting in the front row of the royal box she dressed in the brightest yellow on the entire centre court thanks to her prominence in the top post-match trophy ceremonies.
“She’s super nice,” Rybakina said of the duchess.
Nothing will stop Rybakina this year at Wimbledon: not Jabeur, not the crowd and not even a government decree to prevent Russian players from participating.
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