Elena Rybakina Wins Women’s Wimbledon

By: Jessie Sha

23-year-old Elena Rybakina surprises many by winning Wimbledon’s title. Elena is a 6ft tall tennis player from Kazakhstan, Russia. She played with a poker face, defeating Chinese teenager, Zheng Qinwen, and Grand Slam champions like Bianca Andreescu and the No.2 player in the world, Ons Jabeur. However, as impressive as she was, this was not the outcome that many wanted.

Elena won her match against Ons, with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, and was greeted politely with her victory although many hadn't liked the outcome. Ons didn’t seem to mind very much because of the sympathetic personality. Ons also symbolizes one as an Arab and African woman who achieves in a sport that aspires to be global. Wimbledon even posted on Twitter, “You’re a champion for so many, Ons Jabeur.”

During this tournament, Elena’s parents have been in Russia and when asked the question of how she thought her parents would feel, she started to tear up and answered with “Probably, they’re going to be super proud.” This year’s tournament has barred all Russian and Belarusian players and journalists because of Russia’s invasions on Ukraine. Even so, Elena says that she doesn’t care, and she represents Kazakhstan and that they have supported her a lot. As Elena wins and goes out to celebrate, Jabeur says “I need to teach her how to celebrate.”