Tennis: Rybakina is a Wimbledon champion but isn’t treated that way – Sport

Elena Rybakina will also start the tournament this Monday at the start of the Australian Open, regardless of how she will play her first round game against Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto, she can already prepare for a question that is likely to be asked: how she does it feels that, as the current Wimbledon winner, she did not play in one of the large arenas or at least on one of the medium-sized show courts – but rather on Court 13.

You actually have to be familiar with Melbourne Park to find this spot straight away. Rybakina, that’s how she got to know the tennis world in the summer of 2022, will surely only smile politely and diplomatically answer something innocuous, her case is nevertheless significant – for the fact that not everyone is treated the same in this business. Her fate is likely to be that she was born in Russia and has been playing for Kazakhstan since 2018. But apparently that’s enough to be treated like a renegade on the tour.

Russia’s war against Ukraine is truly radiating in many facets. In any case, Grand Slam winners in tennis are usually not sent to the last places, as Rybakina, the friendly 23-year-old woman who was born in Moscow, has to find out.

The world number one, Iga Swiatek, is the big favorite in the competition

Of course, she is not one of the protagonists in the Netflix series “Breakpoint” that is now being presented, although this format is not a classic documentary anyway. The streaming service concluded contracts with individual tennis professionals and accompanied them for a season. This commercial project, which is based on the Netflix hit series “Formula 1: drive to survive”, began a year ago in Melbourne. “Breakpoint” is entertaining, but it seems almost absurd that a lot of relevant things are missing. Eccentric Nick Kyrgios emerges in overdose; neither Novak Djokovic, who had offered the biggest drama in advance of the Australian Open with his deportation a year ago – nor Rafael Nadal’s spectacular triumph. The Australian Ashleig Barty is also not featured, although she won the title and later ended her career.

Players like Australia’s Ajla Tomjlanovic and Spain’s Paula Badosa are being staged. The fact that these two now have to miss the Australian Open due to injury is of course also a setback for Netflix’s marketing offensive, but even more so for the tournament. Various well-known actors are already missing.

Like Barty, American Serena Williams has also retired. Her sister Venus Williams wanted to compete again via wildcard at the age of 42, but she recently injured herself. Angelique Kerber, winner in 2016, fits because of pregnancy, and the Japanese Naomi Osaka, who triumphed twice in Melbourne (2019, 2021), is expecting a child. The Romanian Simona Halep is suspended after a positive doping test. The top ten, which speaks for the quality of the field, is all present, the world number one Iga Swiatek, outstanding player in 2022 with eight titles (including Paris and the US Open), is the big favorite in the competition. And first on Monday (9 a.m.CET) meets Westphalian Jule Niemeier, who took a sentence from her in New York in 2022.

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