Only two women in the Open era boast a better record on the Wimbledon grass than Elena Rybakina.
With a win percentage in excess of 90, only Steffi Graf and Ann Jones can eclipse it. That and the fact the top seeds have tumbled makes her most people’s pick for the title on Saturday.
The Moscow-born player, who now represents Kazakhstan, rather prefers going under the radar — as she did for her first Wimbledon title win in 2022.
As for an ever-growing favourite’s tag, only intensified by her hour-long demolition of Elina Svitolina, she said: “I don’t really like it, to be honest.”
It is hard to look beyond the 25-year-old for the title, but it was not so long ago her Wimbledon ambitions looked set to be derailed before they had begun.
Her two tournament warm-ups, in Berlin and Eastbourne, ended with her retiring with stomach pain and then not playing altogether.
Despite the lack of grass-court competition, she has looked imperious, dropping just one set so far.
“When I first played on grass, I didn’t feel comfortable,” said Rybakina, “But my coach told me, ‘you were born for this, you just need to keep going’.”
Of the prospect of a second Wimbledon title, she said: “This is something I want to achieve. I’m trying to continue with this mentality.”
Her opponent in the second of the two semi-finals on Thursday, Barbora Krejcikova, has endured a difficult year. Between the Australian Open and the grass-court swing, the Czech won one match at eight tournaments — either losing or succumbing to sickness.
Having seemingly come out the other side, she said: “It was super-difficult with all the illnesses I had, but I’m proud I never gave up.”
Now comes the small matter of how to overcome Rybakina. “She’s a great player,” she said. “It’s going to be a big fight.”
