Controversy colored the success of women’s tennis player from Kazakhstan, Elena Rybakina, who won the Wimbledon 2022 title, Saturday (9/7/2022). The 23-year-old became the champion after overthrowing the third seed from Tunisia, Ons Jabeur, in the final.
Elena Rybakina was impressive because she managed to get back up to beat Ons Jabeur after losing the first set. The final score of Rybakina’s victory over Ons Jabeur was 3-6, 6-2, and 6-2. The key to Rybakina’s comeback was her serve and forehand. Those two things were used by Rybakina to turn off the combination of spin and slice that became Ons Jabeur’s strength in the first set.
The final result of Wimbledon 2022 brought Jabeur’s record of 12 consecutive wins on grass to a halt. The 2022 Wimbledon is the first Grand Slam title for Rybakina, who is now 23 years old. Rybakina became the first Kazakh tennis player to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Rybakina is also the first woman outside the top 20 of the WTA rankings to win a Grand Slam title since Venus Williams in 2007. When she entered Wimbledon 2022, Rybakina, who was seeded 17th, was still ranked 23rd in the WTA.
However, Rybakina’s victory over Ons Jabeur caused controversy. Because, Rybakina is actually a tennis player born in Moscow, Russia. Quoted from AFP, Rybakina decided to no longer represent Russia after Kazakhstan offered funds to support her tennis career since 2018.
That fact made Rybakina’s victory over Ons Jabeur cause controversy. Wimbledon and the All England Club actually banned players from Russia and Belarus from competing as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which has been going on since the end of February 2022.
On the way to the 2022 Wimbledon final, Rybakina has beaten a player who has won a Grand Slam title twice. Two former Grand Slam champions who fell victim to Rybakina are Bianca Andreescu (second round) and Simona Halep (semi-finals). After the 2022 Wimbledon final, Rybakina was at a loss for words to express her happiness.
“I was very nervous before the game. Really I’ve never felt anything like this,” Rybakina was quoted as saying by BBC Sport. “I also want to congratulate Ons Jabeur. It was a great match. You are an inspiration to everyone,” said Rybakina. “I didn’t think I could last until the second week of Wimbledon 2022. To be a winner is really amazing. I have no words to describe my happiness,” added Rybakina.
