Elena Rybakina had barely finished ripping up the form book before the focus turned to her birth certificate. Born in Moscow but a Kazakh citizen since 2018, when she switched federations to secure the funding she needed to advance her career, Rybakina had just upset former champion Simona Halep on Centre Court to reach the Wimbledon final. It was the biggest win of her life, but all anyone wanted to talk about afterwards was her nationality. It hardly seemed fair.
The questions that rained down upon the 23-year-old in the press room were, of course, inevitable. When the All England Club announced their decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players from the tournament, they made a bed in which Rybakina must now lie. It may or may not be true that she still resides in Moscow. “I’m based on tour, because I’m travelling every week,” she said, neatly sidestepping the question when asked.
What is undeniable, however, is that with her 6-3, 6-3 victory over Halep, who had not previously dropped a set over the fortnight, Rybakina becomes the first singles player from Kazakhstan to make a grand slam final.
“It’s amazing, it’s unbelievable and I feel great right now,” said Rybakina. “I [have been] playing already for Kazakhstan for a long time, and I’m really happy representing Kazakhstan. They believed in me, and there’s no more question about how I feel. It’s already a long time, my journey as a Kazakh player, I played Olympics, Fed Cup.”
With Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur also breaking new ground as the first Arab or African woman to make a grand slam final in the open era, the prelude to the women’s final should have a celebratory feel. Instead, the All England Club will be shifting uncomfortably at the possibility of the Duchess of Cambridge presenting a Russian-born player with the Venus Rosewater dish – the very propaganda coup that the ban on Russians and Belarusians was intended to avoid – and Rybakina was pressed on whether she felt Russian “in her heart”.
“What does it mean for you to feel?” she said. “I’m playing tennis, so for me, I’m enjoying my time here. I feel for the players who couldn’t come here, but I’m just enjoying playing here on the biggest stage, and enjoying my time and trying to do my best.”
Against Halep, her best was formidable. Faced with multiple questions as she sought to seize the biggest opportunity of her fledgling career, Rybakina answered them all with aplomb.
Would the enormity of the occasion get to her early on? The opening game, won to love as she interspersed three big serves with a winning drop shot, suggested not. That impression was immediately confirmed when Rybakina broke in the second behind a succession of deep, powerful returns that caught Halep on her heels. It was a case of the biter bit: in the previous round, the Romanian had dished out similarly ruthless treatment to Amanda Anisimova’s delivery. Unnerved, Halep helped Rybakina on her way with a double fault, establishing what would become a recurring theme.
How effective would the thunderous serve that is the cornerstone of Rybakina’s game prove against a returner of Halep’s calibre? Very, as it transpired. Halep, who had put an astonishing 81% of her returns back into play en route to the semi-finals, won only one in three points against Rybakina’s delivery, a fact that owed as much to the Kazakh’s clever changes of pace and direction as the 120mph missiles that are her forte. Halep repeatedly struggled to deal with Rybakina’s low, sliced deliveries wide to the deuce court, with her problems compounded by the fact that she never quite knew when her rival would unleash a harder, flatter ball down the middle.
Halep’s serve, meanwhile, one of the most improved aspects of her game since she began her collaboration with French coach Patrick Mouratoglou three months ago, was placed under intolerable pressure. As Rybakina treated her opponent’s second delivery with contempt, blasting away second balls that frequently arrived at less than 80mph, the former world No 1 began to miss with alarming frequency. Not until the third game of the second set did Halep escape a service game without facing a break point. Nine double faults – including, most damagingly, three in the opening game of the second set – told their own story.
“I improved a lot in my serve in the last three months, but today I feel like I went back to my normal one,” said Halep afterwards. “Many double faults, and too soft. Definitely if I would have had a better serve today, it would have been better.
“It happens. I had three months of changing things. Probably I need more time to fix them.”
As Rybakina closed in on victory, the only question that remained was whether she would falter with such a huge prize at stake. Again, the answer was emphatic. Broken to love in the fourth game as she suffered her only lapse of the contest, making four unforced errors, she bounced back immediately, earning a break point with a beautifully constructed rally before Halep once again obligingly double-faulted at a critical moment. With Rybakina serving at 4-3, 40-30, and Halep fighting for her life, the Kaazkh found a 121mph ace, her biggest serve of the contest. Rybakina’s first match point arrived in the next game and she seized it with alacrity, firing a precise backhand return for a winner.
“I really felt solid in my game, and I think I did everything good,” said Rybakina. “In the previous matches I had many ups and downs but today, even if I lost some points, I was really focused. In the end, I’m really happy with my result.”