By Tony Fairbairn at Wimbledon
- Elena Rybakina has admitted that she has exceeded her own expectations after reaching Wimbledon final
- Ons Jabeur talks about inspiring the next generation after becoming first Arab player into Wimbledon
- Simona Halep and Tatjana Maria take positives after semi-final defeats
LONDON, ENGLAND – Elena Rybakina continues to exceed expectations while Ons Jabeur inspires the next generation as they look ahead to the Wimbledon final.
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Rybakina and Jabeur reach maiden grand slam finals
Day 11 was all about women’s semi-finals day as Elena Rybakina and Ons Jabeur reached their maiden Grand Slam finals. Rybakina produced a simply stunning performance to ease past Simona Halep 6-3 6-3 while Jabeur outsliced and outsmarted Tatjana Maria 6-2 3-6 6-1 in another testing match for the Tunisian.
Both players have created their own sets of history on their way to Saturday’s showpiece event as they reach their first grand slam final. For Rybakina the Kazakh has exceeded her own expectations to get to the final and is looking forward to competing in a Grand Slam final:
“Yes, I didn’t expect that I’m going to be here in the second week, especially in the final,” Rybakina admitted.
“I believe that I have a game to go far in the Grand Slams. Of course, I believe that maybe one day I can win it. It was tough because I had injuries, I didn’t have good preparation, and it was not the moment when I’m just going up with my results. So of course I came a bit more relaxed since I knew that I didn’t have good preparation.
“I can say that this is really first time when I enjoyed every day of playing and just being on the tournaments. I mean, I’m smiling. I really don’t know how I’m going to react because I believe in myself. We worked a lot with my team to get through.
“Of course, no one expected that it’s going to be this week at Wimbledon. But this is something we worked a lot. Everybody believed in me in my team. I don’t know how I’m going to react.”
As for Jabeur, she is the first Arab player to reach a Wimbledon final and after the match Jabeur emphasised there is something more important than reaching a Grand Slam final and that’s inspiring the next generation:
“I want to go bigger, inspire many more generation. Tunisia is connected to the Arab world, is connected to the African continent,” Jabeur proudly claimed in her press conference.
“The area, we want to see more players. It’s not like Europe or any other countries. I want to see more players from my country, from the Middle East, from Africa. I think we didn’t believe enough at certain point that we can do it. Now I’m just trying to show that. Hopefully people are getting inspired.
“Overall I try to enjoy playing tennis because it’s tough to do it sometimes when you play every week, when maybe you lose every week. It’s really tough. But for me, I had to remind myself why did I start playing tennis, what kind of joy that tennis brings to me. As soon as I remind myself that, I get pumped, motivated to go, and play my next matches.”
Saturday’s final will see all-out power against variety and finesse with both players expected to be nervous with so much on the line. The players have met three times with Jabeur leading the head-to-head 2-1 as Saturday will see a new Grand Slam champion.
Halep and Maria take positives from semi-final defeat
On the other side of the spectrum it was heartbreak for Halep and Maria who came so close but yet so far. For Halep she was on a 12 match winning streak at Wimbledon and was the favourite to win her third Grand Slam title. However Rybakina was the better player on the day and after the match the Romanian reflected on her tournament:
“Well, I think the last four weeks were pretty good. I take all the positives from those weeks,” Halep said.
“I have confidence because I showed myself that I can play good tennis. But, yeah, today probably was a little bit too much. But, yeah, I take it as it is, and I’m looking forward to work the same way. I’m sure that it’s going to be better the next week.”
The Romanian will now have a holiday and look forward to the US hard court swing as she looks to win the Grand Slam in New York for the first time:
“My goal right now is a holiday because I worked a lot,” Halep said.
“My goal is like the goal I came here, just to improve in myself and to do what I want to do on court: to be more aggressive, to be creative, and keep the same level every day.”
As for Maria it couldn’t be a different story as she never expected to reach the semi-finals and gave a good account of herself against Jabeur. After the match the German reflected on the crazy journey to the last four:
“I mean, at the end it was a crazy adventure with my family. I played a semifinal of Wimbledon,” Maria said.
“I played a semi-final of Wimbledon. For sure I’m sad now maybe a little bit because it stops here. But, like I said, we have to realize all these positive things, what happened these two weeks. I mean, I was so often down and I came back. You believe also in yourself more and more. It gives you confidence for more things. I hope in the future, yeah, I can keep going like this and improve every single day.
“Yeah, I hope that I can send this message out that I have two kids and I’m on this stage. I think everything is possible. I’m 34 years old with two kids and playing my first time semi-final in Wimbledon.
“So I think maybe people will see that everything is possible, even to keep going, to believe in themself, to keep going, to fight, to love what they are doing, to enjoy, at the end to enjoy life.”
Maria’s story has been the story of Wimbledon and there is no doubting that if she continues to play her tennis then not only can she continue to go deep in tournaments but continue to inspire people around the world.
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