Wimbledon chiefs have avoided the embarrassment of being forced to play host to another awkward interview after defending women's champion Elena Rybakina crashed out of the tournament.
Rybakina was born in Moscow and represented Russia until 2015, when she switched nationality to Kazakhstan after gaining citizenship in the country. Russia has of course been sidelined by the international community, both in and out of sport, after their invasion of Ukraine.
Since then, athletes from both Russia and Belarus have been asked to condemn their countries' actions in order to compete. Rybakina was able to avoid those questions until last year's Wimbledon final.
She defeated Ons Jabeur in the final to become Wimbledon's youngest female winner since 2011. But that led to an awkward interview following her win, as a journalist pressed her to condemn Russian president Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine.
Despite having held press conferences in English before, she responded: "Sorry my English is not the greatest so I didn't understand the question, but from my side I can only say that I'm representing Khazakstan.
"I didn't choose where I was born, people believed in me, Khazakstan supported me so much. Even today I heard so many support and saw the flags so I don't know how to answer these questions."
Thankfully for Wimbledon chiefs, they will avoid a repeat of that scenario, after Rybakina lost in the quarter-finals on Wednesday. Ironically it was to Jabeur, who got revenge over her rival from last year's final.
Jabeur had missed a set point in the opening set before seeing Rybakina break back with a series of searing backhands. The Khazak took the opening set in the tie break thanks to her dominant serving game.
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But that was as good as it got for the defending champion, who went on to lose the next two sets in succession. Jabeur began to break Rybakina's serve, claiming the second set 6-4 before taking the opening game of the final set.
It proved to be a somewhat simple decider for Jabeur, who eased to a 6-1 win, with Rybakina's backhand into the net sealing her defeat. It means Jabeur will progress to the semi-finals and she is understandably delighted.
"I said I am going for my shots because if you try to go easy with her it is not going to work. It is not easy playing her but I wish we could exchange this match for the finals last year," she said, with a clash with Aryna Sabalenka ahead in the final four.
"I saw she won very quick which I wasn't happy with. She is an amazing player. She hits very fast like Elena so it will be very challenging. It will be a difficult match but I will keep this spirit on the court and hopefully the crowd will be with me."
