Nick: On the English grass at
centre court, today's wimbledon
women's final was destined to be
historic.
Elena rybakina became the first
ever player representing
Kazakhstan to win a grand slam.
She beat Tunisia's ons jabeur,
the first woman from Africa to
reach a grand slam final.
To discuss this, I'm joined from
wimbledon by "New York Times"
tennis correspondent and author
Christopher Clarey.
Both stories are interesting.
First, how did Elena rybakina
win?
Christopher: She is very
powerful and she played a
wonderful match today.
Started slowly, with nervous,
both women in uncharted
territory, but having gotten
past the quarterfinals, you did
know how they would react.
Elena rybakina started
dominating with flat shots and
finished it off.
When she won, the biggest moment
of her life, it's like she won
the first point of the match,
hardly any emotion.
But the emotion came later in
the press conference when she
broke down in tears.
On the court you never would
have known it was her first
wimbledon title.
Nick: She decided to play for
cause asked on four years ago.
How did that come about?
Christopher: A number of players
from Russia will look at some of
the other republics were the
funding is greater, looking for
athletes that can play certain
sports, and they shift.
She wasn't the first but in many
ways she was one of the most
recent ones to do it.
At that time not considered one
of the most promising Russian
juniors, wasn't getting the
funding, so she decided to
switch.
It is a big former republic.
She got coaching, all kinds of
support and talked to her a few
minutes ago and she was saying
she wasn't sure she would have
won the title without the
backing.
The timing is awkward for the
club and people in tennis
because Russians and Belarusians
have been banned because of the
invasion in Ukraine.
I don't think the all England
club planned to have someone who
grew up in Russian on the centre
court today, that wasn't part of
the plan.
Nick: There's always politics
when it comes to this.
Tell us about the decision
wimbledon made.
The other grand slam tennis
tournaments have not banned
Russians.
Why did wimbledon?
Christopher: A combination of
factors.
You are right, wimbledon is an
tlier on this issue in tennis,
not so much in world sport but
in tennis.
I think it was the British
government led by Boris Johnson
was adamant there had to be some
sort of concession by the
Russian players if they were to
take part, a denunciation by
their government, or some other
gesture.
I felt the club that runs
wimbledon felt they had to do
something.
They did not want to make the
players basically go against
their country publicly, and put
their families at risk.
They decided to ban Russians and
Belarusians altogether.
It's been a long time since that
happened in tennis, post-world
war II with Germans and
Japanese.
They took away the wrecking
points, unprecedented, because a
lot of backlash.
Some players will not rise in
the rankings and will actually
drop.
Nick: Let's talk about ons
jabeur.
She is well-liked on the tour
and is known as the minister of
happiness.
What is she represent for the
women's game?
Christopher: People are really
excited about ons jabeur at all
she brings to tennis and sports.
There aren't that many people in
the history of this came from
Arab nations or the African
continent on the women's side
who have done well.
She is an exceptional talent and
very charismatic.
Extremely likable, her game is
magnetic, kinds of variety in
style and panache.
I think everybody was primed to
celebrate that and in some ways,
Elena rybakina upset the apple
cart.
But ons brings a chance to reach
a new audience and market, not
just for women's tennis but
women's sports.
People are very aware of that.
Nick: On the men's side, Novak
Djokovic going for his seventh
wimbledon, facing the fiery and
unpredictable Nick curious --
kyrgios.
Christopher: I think too much
has changed over the years to
compare the greats of the past
to the greats of today.
The grand slam tournaments did
not matter as much in terms of
counting your titles in the
Not everybody played them for a
long time.
In terms of this error and what
it represents, who has the most
grand slam titles is big.
Rafael Nadal have to pull out
with injury.
Know is very committed to
chasing -- Novak Djokovic is
committed to chasing the number
down.
This is a huge match for him.
He might not be able to play the
U.S. Open at all because he
remains unvaccinated and might
not be able to get into the
Nick: Christopher, thank you
very much.
Christopher: My pleasure.