Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina blames slow start on Roger Federer after avoiding historic shock

WIMBLEDON — Elena Rybakina says the presence of her childhood hero Roger Federer made her first-round clash with Shelby Rogers a little harder.

Federer is an eight-time Wimbledon and 20-time grand slam winner, but it was Rybakina’s duty as defending champion to open Centre Court on Tuesday, where Federer was being honoured in the Royal Box.

And it looked as though he might bear witness to an upset when Rogers took the opening set under the roof, but eventually Rybakina’s mighty serve saw her through as she hit 12 aces en route to a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory.

“Maybe that’s why I was nervous because actually I really like Roger,” Rybakina said afterwards.

“When I was younger, I was always watching him play.

“It was really special. The year after to be again on this court with the same crowd, it was really special.

“First matches, I think they’re always tough I would say mentally to get to the rhythm of the tournament. So hopefully the next match is going to be easier.”

Rybakina’s nerves were clear to see, double-faulting on the opening point of the match and immediately going a break down to the world No 49, sending statisticians scrambling: she would have been just the second Wimbledon women’s defending champion in the Open era to have lost in the first round, Steffi Graf in 1994 the only other one.

Rybakina quickly rallied though, rattling through the last two sets in just over an hour to book her spot in the second round and dispel the nerves that had clearly gripped her in the first 45 minutes.

The 24-year-old’s emotions were understandable given her disrupted summer: a virus she picked up in Paris forced her to withdraw from the French Open and then she pulled out of Eastbourne the week before Wimbledon, citing her below-par fitness levels that she says have now recovered.

“Of course, maybe I’m missing a bit some things here and there because we didn’t put enough hours or maybe the hours we wanted to do,” Rybakina added.

“But overall I feel good. I think with every match, I’m going to just also get in physically more ready for all the matches.”

If she makes it as far as the semi-finals, she is projected to face an Australian Open rematch with No 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka, who beat Panna Udvardy 6-3, 6-1 in her first-round match.

Belarus’s Sabalenka is playing Wimbledon for the first time in two years, having been one of the athletes who missed out last year due to the ban on Belarusian and Russian athletes, which was subsequently lifted in 2023.

“I didn’t realise how much I missed this place until this match,” Sabalenka said.

“I really love Wimbledon. I have great memories from two years ago. I made semi-finals.

“I’m always enjoying my game here at Wimbledon, enjoying the atmosphere. It was really tough period for me last year. I was just super happy to be here this year. Since then I really enjoyed every second today on court, enjoyed the atmosphere.”