- Amy Lofthouse
- BBC Sports Correspondent – Wimbledon
10 July 2022
Elena Rybakina says she is proud to represent Kazakhstan following winning Wimbledon
Elena Rybakina, the new Wimbledon champion, said she did not know “how to celebrate” her “shocking” victory over Tunisian Anas Jaber in the final of the World Tennis Championships.
Rybakina defeated title rival Anas Jaber 3-6 6-2 6-2 to become the first female tennis player from Kazakhstan to win the Wimbledon title.
It is known that the 23-year-old Kazakh player does not celebrate the victory, so she only raised her right arm in the air following the result was announced.
Jaber joked regarding this by noting that she would need to teach the new heroine “how to celebrate properly.”
The third seed in the world fought in the white game to beat Anas Jaber, who was among the strong candidates for the title since the beginning of the competition.
The champion raised her racket high and pointed it to the audience in the stands following announcing her victory in the title, before returning to her place outside the stadium.
“You might get a big reaction from me someday, but not today,” Rybakina said.
She added: “I didn’t know what to do, it was shocking. I had so many emotions and I was trying to stay calm.”
And she continued, “When I was giving the speech, I was thinking of screaming at the time, but I held on and I didn’t.”
The Wimbledon champion said: “Maybe then when I’m in the room I’ll scream nonstop, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Rybakina seemed very moved when some people asked her at the press conference following the final if her parents would be proud of her winning the title, and she said with tears welling up in her eyes: “You wanted to see the feelings, here it is! I tried to hide it for a long time.”
“Kazakhstan believed in me”
Moscow-born Rybakina has been representing Kazakhstan since 2018, when she started her professional career.
It is reported that the tournament’s organizing committee decided to ban tennis players from Russia and Belarus from participating in Wimbledon in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Wimbledon champion has been recognized on more than one occasion thanks to the Tennis Federation of Kazakhstan for her sponsorship, which allowed her to develop in the game as a professional player. She also expressed her pride in representing Kazakhstan at the Grand Slam and the Olympics.
The President of the Kazakh Tennis Federation was also waiting for the player in her support area last Saturday, and the President of Kazakhstan congratulated her on winning this great title through his accounts on social media.
But the president of the Russian Tennis Federation, Shamil Tarpshev, attributed the victory to Moscow during comments he gave to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, saying: “Very cool! We won the Wimbledon title.”
Nevertheless, Elena Rybakina said: “For my part, I confirm that I represent Kazakhstan. I did not choose my hometown.”
She added, “They believed in me, and Kazakhstan supported me a lot. Until today, I heard many expressions of support and saw the flags as well.”
Anas Jaber said she is “happy” despite her loss in the Wimbledon final
Who is the new Wimbledon champion Rybakina?
Rybakina was an athlete and snowboarder as a child and was told that she would not be able to compete in the sport because of her height.
But her father encouraged her to play tennis, but the turning point in her life came when she left school.
Concerned regarding the financial complications involved in becoming a professional athlete, her father wanted her to go to university, and Elena had several attempts to get into universities in the United States.
After that, the Kazakh Tennis Federation began to support her financially until she represented the country in 2018 for the first time.
The young player won the WTA Championships for the first time in Bucharest in 2019 before embarking on an impressive sporting career in 2020 by successfully qualifying for the finals of the next five tournaments she has competed in.
Rybakina was the first single female tennis player from Kazakhstan to be included in the top 20 rankings in the world before ending that tour in due to the spread of the Corona virus.
She also qualified for the quarter-finals of the Paris Open following defeating Serena Williams in the fourth round of the tournament and then reached the fourth round at Wimbledon a few weeks later.
Despite this, the Kazakh player admitted that she did not expect to reach the second week of this year’s tournament, let alone reach the final and win the title.
“I think maybe I’ll enjoy it tomorrow, maybe I can when everything calms down,” Rybakina said.
She added, “I will be with my close friends and family. I will cherish all the memories of this day.”
“I need to teach her how to celebrate.”
Anas Jaber, the first Arab tennis player to win a singles Grand Slam title, received a huge boost over two weeks at Wimbledon.
She also had a friendly conversation with Rybakina near the pitch net following the match, following which she said the Wimbledon champion “deserves well” to win the competition.
She added, “Maybe because she’s shy, she can’t show her feelings. But I think her performance speaks for her. I need to teach her how to celebrate.”
The 27-year-old Tunisian player showed journalists a picture of her smartphone screen closing, a picture of the Wimbledon shield.
But she joked regarding it, saying she might exchange it for a photo of her niece or a photo of the US Tennis Championships Trophy – the next Grand Slam of the season.
Jaber said, “I am always happy, and I will leave happy and always with a big smile on my lips. Tennis is a sport for me. The most important thing for me is to feel good regarding myself.”
“Shortly following losing the final, I saw my husband in the gym and we hugged,” she added. And at that moment I started crying. Then my coach came and the two of them cheered me on and talked regarding the positives I had achieved, that made me look strong and feel confident during the press conference.
