Rybakina- dark horse of Wimbledon
When a player is 23 in the WTA ranking and have no big title wins, she is well outside the favourite line up to win Wimbledon. Rybakina’s best credential before winning 2022 Wimbledon was being former world junior number 3 as a Russian and winning relatively little known WTA title in Eastern Europe this year. The 23 year old surprised the world winning Wimbledon title as the dark horse. This emphatic manner of her winning places her to be a future WTA number one prospect.
Rybakina history is, in 2018 she switched nationality to be naturalised Kazakhstan citizen ‘again’. The family did live in Kazakhstan earlier. According to Rybakina, Kazakhstan offered her a better financial package. Sporting business too have angles of survival, its common and many countries recruit good talent into their elite pool offering citizenship. Most of the national development is not yielding the desired outcome. [I am not wrong in saying ‘most’]. Rybakina will be playing well past her 30th birthday giving Kazakhstan best of her prime.
A Russian? No!
John McEnroe former ace and popular American commentator highlighted Rybakina’s current residency, which is Moscow and her immediate previous nationality, which is Russian. He not only highlighted this but also questioned her entry to play in an event in which Russia is barred.
Rybakina’s family is from Kazakhstan. After the fall of the Soviet era, family went to Russia. Being Christians and to pursue children sporting career. They now live in Moscow, Russia.
Uneasy moments
Rybakina later admitted that she was extremely nervous at the prize giving while accepting the Wimbledon trophy, Venus Rosewater Dish, from her Royal highness the Duchess. Not being able to speak English fluently added to it. Nervous she missed the traditional royal courtesy expected of her in England.
First appearance
In the early years of sporting pursuit, she did Ice-skating and athletics. Being a six-footer, ice skating coach advised her not to pursue it. In athletics, her prospects were good but chose Tennis for its long-term career prospects. Athletics and ice skating has given her physical base needed for world class Tennis. Her first serve speed of 132-mph matches that of maestro Djokovic!
Ranked low as WTA 23
Entering Wimbledon Rybakina’s world ranking was WTA 23. In Wimbledon that gave her the slot to be the 23rd seed in the draw. An expected prospect to reach the 3rd round. When she passed that with ease, she became unstoppable.
In the semi-final against Halep, Rybakina’s game and her tactical maturity prevailed from the beginning. Halep is returning from her injury prone lay off had the game to match Rybakina but not the speed and endurance to win.
In the final, the first set was easy win for WTA number 2 Ons Jabeur. In this set Rybakina did not appeal against any of the line calls. Although some were in her favour. Rybakina admitted that she knew it and thought they were secondary. Her focus was to reduce her unforced errors. In the first set, it totalled up to be 17, too high. That was the reason why she lost the first set. Rybakina’s focused on reaction, keeping her ‘inner self’ calm and to wait for the right moment.
The right moment came to Rybakina in the very first two games of the second set. Once she got on top, she was the stronger player on court. Good athletes are good front-runners. [Pete Sampras and Steffi Graf are the names I recall for this aspect] Rybakina’s total number of errors in the second and third set together totalled only 16, just 8 in one set. With Ons Jabeur being in equal in ability, Rybakina’s first Wimbledon title came by a tactical calculation.
Djokovic again
In many ways, final four rounds of men’s did not have the strength of Tennis to be appealing. The absence of elite top ten Russians and Nadal’s saga added to it. Nadal injured in his quarterfinal match against Fritz, went to play five sets to win in a tie-breaker. Taylor Fritz, a very large six foot plus American too was sporting a bandage in his thigh and it slowed him. Noticing it, Nadal challenging him for endurance. Here I would say it was foolish of Nadal to have continued against medical advice. This resulted in Australian Nick Krygious getting a walk over in the semi-finals. A stigma that will stay with Nadal rest of his life.
Australian Krygios is an on/off player. When he unable to handle the match pressure, he indulges into a dialogue with his player’s box. The worst is player’s box occupants respond to him. A good few times he did that leading 40 love and lost the game. On the centre court at that time were past Australian Wimbledon champions Rod Laver, John Newcombe and Tony Roche. They were unhappy with Kryrgios’s performance with dismay. Incessant talking of Krygios that gave no advantage to his game was vanity.
Best matches
Men players who made 2022 Wimbledon memorable were Jannick Sinner of Italy and Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz. Sinner having beaten Alcaraz took Djokovic to five sets and lost due to physical fatigue. This match between Djokovic and Sinner was the men’s classic of Wimbledon 2022. In women’s the final between Ons Jabeur and Rybakina was the best match.
–George Paldano, European and Asian competition player; Coach for German Tennis Federation; National coach Brunei and
Sri Lanka; Davis Cup, Federation Cup; coached Top 200 ATP, WTA and ITF Top 50; WhatsApp 0775448880–