ELENA RYBAKINA was too shocked to celebrate after defeating Ons Jabeur to give her adopted country of Kazakhstan a first grand slam title at Wimbledon on Saturday.

In the first women’s singles final at the All England Club between two new slam finalists for 60 years, the 23-year-old came from a set down to claim a 3-6 6-2 6-2 victory.

Rybakina, who is the youngest woman to win the title since Petra Kvitova in 2011, has shown with her exceptional ball striking and calm temperament that she is a deserving major champion, but she has found herself caught in a storm not of her own making over her nationality and background.

When Wimbledon organisers decided to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes following the invasion of Ukraine, it was partly to avoid the propaganda opportunities should British royalty end up presenting a player from one of those two countries with the trophy.

It was more than a little uncomfortable, therefore, that the Duchess of Cambridge did indeed give the Rosewater Dish to a player born, raised and reportedly still a resident in Russia, but who switched to representing Kazakhstan for financial reasons four years ago.

Russian media have been celebrating Rybakina’s success and the outcome shows the difficulty of implementing such a policy in an individual and very international sport.

She has answered the many questions diplomatically while stressing the importance of the support she has received from Kazakhstan.