Too nervous to wave, Elena Rybakina stepped into the Centre Court sunshine before the Wimbledon final Saturday and kept a firm double-grip on the black-and-red straps of the racket bag slung over her shoulders.
No wave. Not much of a look around. Her play early on betrayed some jitters, too, which makes sense considering it was her debut in a Grand Slam title match.
Nearly two hours of big swinging and plenty of sprinting later, she had won the championship at the All England Club with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Ons Jabeur — the first singles trophy at a major tournament for her adopted country of Kazakhstan.
Rybakina’s miscues mounted. A volley into the net tape with the full court wide open. A netted forehand after Jabeur barely got a short return in. When another forehand went awry, Jabeur broke at love to take the opening set, yelled “Yalla!” — Arabic for “Let’s go!” — and threw an uppercut as she walked to the sideline.
Jabeur was trying to become the first Arab or African woman to win a Slam singles title in the professional era, which dates to 1968.
“I love this tournament so much. I feel really sad. But it’s tennis. There is only one winner,” Jabeur said. “I’m really happy that I’m trying to inspire many generations from my country. I hope they’re listening.”
Rybakina, who beat Serena Williams at last year’s French Open, finally earned her first break chance to begin the second set and went up 1-0 when Jabeur missed a forehand. After saving four break points over her next two service games, Rybakina broke again and soon led 5-1.
Jabeur leads the women’s tour with 13 victories in three-setters this season, but Rybakina came out far stronger in the decider.
She broke once more to begin the third, and went up 3-1.
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Jabeur needed to find a way to cut down on her mistakes and came close to changing the course of things while down 3-2 in the third. She parlayed a pair of points she won via a drop shot and a lob into love-40 on Rybakina’s serve.
But Rybakina erased that trio of break points and took the game, aided by a couple of 119 mph serves. The hold there made it 4-2, and Rybakina quickly broke again. Now she was just a game away from the biggest victory of her career — and she got to serve for it.
That game began with a 117 mph ace off Rybakina’s red racket. It ended with Jabeur missing a return.
Any apprehension, any unease, felt by Rybakina could disappear. Soon she was stepping over the green wall beside front-row seats to go through the stands for hugs with her coach, her sister and others.
