Today the Wimbledon Championships saw a new champion in the ladies’ singles, as Elena Rybakina beat the Tunisian player Ons Jabeur in three sets. Before the match, Jabeur was undoubtedly the favorite, but Rybakina shocked everyone to win this whole tournament.

After the win, former American tennis player, John McEnroe talks about Rybakina’s Russian roots. Notably, Wimbledon banned all the Russian and Belarusian players before the tournament, which created a huge controversy.

Now, McEnroe called out Wimbledon for letting Rybakina play despite Rybakina being a Russian-born player.

John McEnroe talked about Elena Rybakina being Russian

During BBC’s coverage of the final of the Wimbledon Championships, the former American player said, “She is obviously a huge hitter and hits the ball great. I just think it’s weird because of this whole thing. I don’t mean to get into politics here but she is Russian, right? It is sort of strange because of this whole ordeal of not allowing the Russians to play.”

Notably, Rybakina was born in Moscow in Russia. However, she changed her nationality in 2018 and became a Kazakhstan player. According to her, the Kazakhstan federation came at the right time to help her pursue her dream as a tennis player.

Interestingly, she was not getting the help needed in Russia, both financially and facility-wise. Moreover, her father wanted to send her to America to study at universities. 

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At that moment, the Kazakh tennis federation helped her financially and provided her with great facilities to play tennis at the highest level. Notably, Rybakina played for Russia throughout her junior career.

Rybakina’s great comeback against Ons Jabeur at the final of the Wimbledon Championships 2022

In the final, Rybakina didn’t had a great start as Jabeur won the first set pretty easily. Clearly, it did not demoralize the Kazakh player’s confidence, as she made a tremendous comeback into the match. She won the second set 6-2 and did not give any opportunity to Jabeur in the third set. In the end, she won the match in 1 hour and 48 minutes; the scoreline was 3-6,6-2,6-2.

Meanwhile, with this win, Rybakina became the first Kazakh player to win a Grand Slam title at Wimbledon. As for Jabeur, she has already achieved a great milestone, as she became the first Arab player to reach a Grand Slam final.

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