The 2022 final
On 9 July 2022, on Centre Court, Rybakina beat Ons Jabeur 3–6, 6–2, 6–2. Having lost the opening set she won 12 of the next 16 games, wearing the Tunisian down with the power of her serve and flat groundstrokes.
The title made her the first player from Kazakhstan to win a Grand Slam in singles, and the first Moscow-born champion at a major for many years.
Wimbledon 2022 carried no ranking points. The WTA stripped the tournament of points that year in response to the organisers' ban on Russian and Belarusian players. The champion received the trophy and the prize money - and not a single ranking point, which is why she finished the season ranked only 22nd.
Wimbledon results by year
| Year | Result | Key detail |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Third round | Lost to Elise Mertens. She also recorded her 300th WTA main-draw win at the event. |
| 2024 | Semifinal | Her best result since the title run. |
| 2022 | Champion | Final against Ons Jabeur - 3–6, 6–2, 6–2. |
Why grass suits her
A low bounce and a fast court maximise the value of a flat serve: the returner has less time to prepare, and Rybakina's second shot arrives almost immediately. Long rallies - where her numbers dip - are rare on grass. That is why Wimbledon remains her strongest major by win rate. The mechanics are covered in the game analysis.
2026: what went wrong
A third-round exit was her worst grass-court result in several years. The 2026 season was polarised in general: two titles and two finals on hard and clay, and failures at both European Grand Slams - Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
What the 2022 title meant for Kazakhstan
Before July 2022 Kazakhstan had never won a Grand Slam singles title in either the men's or the women's game. Rybakina's Wimbledon victory changed that in a single evening and became the country's biggest achievement in the sport.
It also validated the strategy of the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation, which had invested systematically in promising players since the mid-2010s. How that strategy reached Rybakina herself is covered on the citizenship page.
The final against Ons Jabeur in detail
Her opponent in the final was Ons Jabeur - the first Arab and the first African woman to reach a Grand Slam final. The match was historic for both sides.
Jabeur took the first set 6–3, playing her signature tennis of drop shots and changes of rhythm, never letting Rybakina settle on a comfortable contact height. The turn came in the second set: the Kazakh raised her first-serve percentage and began ending rallies before Jabeur could impose her patterns. 6–2, 6–2 - and twelve of the final sixteen games.
Grass as a surface
The grass season occupies less than a month of the calendar, and playing on it is a skill in itself. The low bounce, the sliding and the increasingly unpredictable bounce after a few days of play demand specific habits - many clay specialists simply skip the swing.
For Rybakina grass is the surface of maximum advantage. A flat serve on a low bounce becomes close to unreturnable, and the long rallies where her numbers dip barely occur. That is why Wimbledon remains her strongest major by win percentage.
The 2024 semifinal and the 2026 exit
In 2024 she reached the semifinals again - her second-best result at the tournament. She finished that season ranked sixth in the world.
2026 went the other way: a third round and a defeat to Elise Mertens. Together with the second round at Roland Garros it formed the worst stretch of her season - in a year when she won the Australian Open and reached the US Open semifinals on hard courts. The full picture is in the season results.
Frequently asked questions
When did Rybakina win Wimbledon?
In 2022, beating Ons Jabeur in the final 3–6, 6–2, 6–2.
Why were no ranking points awarded for Wimbledon 2022?
The WTA withheld points after the organisers banned Russian and Belarusian players.
How did Rybakina do at Wimbledon 2026?
She reached the third round, where she lost to Elise Mertens.