The past 12 months of Elena Rybakina’s career have been a revelation but, despite how well she has followed up last year’s Wimbledon title, a slice of bad luck struck at precisely the worst time. She returned for her title defence still dealing with the after effects of the virus that forced her to withdraw from the French Open last month. Her level in her first two rounds at Wimbledon this year had, for good reason, been distinctly average.
But the best of the best have a way of rising to the occasion when the Centre Court is electric, and as she stared down Katie Boulter, Britain’s last remaining singles player in either draw, Rybakina soared. In just 57 minutes, the defending champion ended Great Britain’s singles presence at Wimbledon for another year, demolishing Boulter 6-1, 6-1 to return to the fourth round.
“I knew what to expect and, of course, I knew that it’s gonna be tough one,” said Rybakina. “But I heard some support and it was really nice atmosphere, no matter that more support was towards Katie. Overall, I was happy I was focused from the beginning until the end.”
After a long day of play on Centre Court, with lengthy matches won by Carlos Alcaraz and Ons Jabeur plus a delay because of rain, Rybakina and Boulter entered the court at 8:48pm with just over two hours before the 11pm curfew. It was a match between two players with similar playing styles, both tall, big-hitting shotmakers determined to conduct their business on the front foot at all times.
But Rybakina, the third seed, has a far bigger, more consistent game, a first serve with no equal and she has regularly performed at a far higher level. She began the match eviscerating the ball, her forehand averaging a ridiculous 82mph in the opening stages. A great barometer of the Kazakhstani’s confidence on the court is whether she is willing to take on her forehand down the line rather than insisting on building points cross-court, a safer shot. From the beginning, she was lasering forehand winners straight down the line.
One of the great challenges of playing against the 24-year-old is keeping up with her enormous serving and the ease with which she can hold serve. The pressure on Boulter’s shoulders was immense from the beginning.
As Rybakina slammed down four aces in her first three service games and won 100% of first serve points, Boulter just couldn’t keep up. She put herself in trouble early on with poor decisions, attempting a number of dire drop shots. If Boulter was nervous, those nerves were only amplified by the constant pressure on her from across the court. As Rybakina’s winners and unreturned serves rained down, Boulter was constantly rushed and harassed into taking even bigger cuts at the ball earlier in the point, with more errors rebounding from her racket.
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What had been billed by some as one of the matches of the day instead ended in a complete mismatch as one of the best players in the world snuffed out a much lower-ranked challenger. Still, Boulter can leave Wimbledon with her head high. This has been a trajectory-altering grass-court season for her, having won her first career WTA title in Nottingham and becoming British No 1 before returning to the third round of Wimbledon.
When the tournament ends, the 26-year-old will rise to a new career high ranking about No 71. After spending the past four years mainly competing on the ITF tour, she is finally among the elite again. She has given herself the opportunity to qualify directly for the grand slam tournaments and compete against this calibre of player week after week, which should only help her to improve. For Rybakina, the title defence continues.
