From 100-1 Pre-Tournament Odds To Wimbledon Champion - What a Run For Elena Rybakina

Clive Brunskill. Getty Images.

From 100-1 odds pre tournament to Wimbledon champ. What an incredible run for Elena Rybakina using her dominant serve and power ground strokes to break out and win her first slam

You'd have to look long and hard to find a Wimbledon title celebration less enthusiast than Elena Rybakina's today. You could convince me she simply held a service game in the middle of the match there. Gotta be the most subdued celebration ever, right? Nothing wrong with that at all, but it made me laugh. 

People are now gonna argue who won and lost here. In case you are unaware, Wimbledon banned all Russian players from participating in this year's tournament because of the war. The ban was met with a ton of controversy considering many of those players had already denounced the war and were outspoken about it. Still, that meant players like Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, and Daria Kasatkina were not allowed to play. 

Elena Rybakina was born in Moscow, but switched her citizenship four years ago after Russian tennis failed to support her talents. Being a citizen of Kazakhstan, she was allowed to compete and of course ended up winning the whole damn thing. Is this a win for Russia? Is this a fail for Wimbledon and their ban? Or is this good on Kazakhstan for recognizing such a great talent like Rybakina and stealing her away? I'm sure there are arguments for every side, but good for her regardless. She was not only a 100-1 dog to start the tourney, but still was an underdog in the semifinals (+240 to Halep) and finals (+130 today). To come back from a set down today against Ons was extremely impressive given how talented the Tunisian is. This is a very well earned title. 

It is a bummer that Rybakina won't receive any ranking points for this run. After Wimbledon announced their ban, the ATP and WTA clapped back and said no points would be awarded for the tournament. If Rybakina had gotten her points should have moved all the way up to 6th in the world — instead, she'll be 23rd. She obviously still gets her $2.5 million and all the life-changing glory that comes with winning Wimbledon, but moving up to 6th in the world woulda been cool too. 

Next up? Novak Djokovic vs. Nick Kyrgios in the men's final tomorrow morning at 9am. Get your popcorn.