Russia could get last laugh as Elena Rybakina reaches final

Such is the intensity and grace of her tennis, there is a very good chance that Elena Rybakina could triumph over Ons Jabeur in Saturday’s women’s singles final.

This could pose some difficulties for the All England Club. The optics of the Duchess of Cambridge presenting the Venus Rosewater Dish to a player who was born in Moscow and has represented Russia at the junior level will jar slightly.

Wimbledon banned players from Russia and Belarus in response to the invasion of Ukraine. It has been a controversial stance and the reason why there are no ranking points available at this year’s championships.

Shamil Tarpischev, the head of the Russian Tennis Federation, is fully behind Rybakina. “Lena can win Wimbledon,” he told a Russian website. “Everything is deserved. It’s great that everything turned out this way, we will root for her.”

Rybakina, it must be stressed, has not circumvented the ban. The 23-year-old switched nationality in 2018 because she needed the financial support that Kazakhstan offered her, as the country of her birth was not giving her any backing. As she explains it, Kazakhstan needed to find good athletes, and she needed the money.

Having blossomed at these championships she has had to face lots of questions about her decision. She has navigated these well, saying she hopes for peace in Ukraine while explaining that her success is important for a nation trying to improve its sporting success, but by the time she faced the media it was clear that she was tiring of explaining her personal history and did not quite answer a question about where her heart lies, pointing out that she has represented Kazakhstan both in the Billie Jean King Cup (formerly the Fed Cup) and the Olympics.

 “I’m playing already for Kazakhstan for a long time,” she said. “I’m really happy representing Kazakhstan. They believed in me. There is no more question about how I feel.”

She is the No 17 seed here and ought to find it tough against Jabeur, the No 3 seed, but the manner in which she dismantled Simona Halep in straight sets will give the Tunisian’s camp much to worry about, even if Jabeur is incredibly versatile.

Rybakina is 6ft and possesses a sublime, gasp-inducing serve, but she also returns with clinical depth and moves with deceptive speed around the court.

The Centre Court crowd were rooting for Halep, 30, not necessarily because of the geopolitics at work but because Halep is a former champion here. This, really, ought to have affected Rybakina’s equilibrium, but she delivered a largely nerve-free performance.

“Simona is a great champion,” Rybakina said. “I was really focused and I was really happy with my performance.”

Jabeur’s team will take note that the Romanian did not play poorly. Her movement has improved under the tutelage of Patrick Mouratoglou, the former coach of Serena Williams, and much of her defensive play was astonishing, reaching shots that she had no right to get to. Rybakina clinched her place in the final against Halep’s serve with a backhand winner down the line that gave the Romanian no time to even move her feet.

It spoke of a player improving with each set that she plays on grass. Rybakina is an entertaining competitor who reads the game with acute intelligence. If she needs to seal a service game with an ace, she will, but there are other elements to her style. It is all a fantastic advertisement for oil-rich Kazakhstan and the facilities that it has invested in to try to produce tennis champions.

Rybakina said of facing Jabeur in the final: “I think it’s going to be a great match; she’s a great player, very tricky player — it’s not going to be easy to play against her drop shots and volleys. I think I already did the work so it’s time to enjoy it out on court.”