At Wimbledon, everyone is after Swiatek, Sabalenka and Rybakina

LONDON – Elena Rybakina was nervous. She was involved in her first match on Center Court at Wimbledon as the defending champion. She faced a tough opponent in Shelby Rogers. The roof was closed and she was recovering from a virus.

Even more frightening was that one of the greatest players ever on that field, Roger Federer, now sat just a few feet behind her, in the royal box, watching her struggle.

“Yeah, maybe that’s why I was nervous,” Rybakina said after recovering to beat Rogers 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday.

Federer, now retired, was back at Wimbledon for a visit. As a player, he was part of the so-called Big Three of men’s tennis, along with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. As a spectator he watched a player who some experts, including Chris Evert, believe is part of an emerging big three of women’s tennis.

Rybakina, the third-ranked player in the world, along with No. 1 Iga Swiatek and No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, forms the top of the women’s tennis pyramid. Together they have won the last five major tournaments and the eventual winner of this year’s Wimbledon is expected – but not guaranteed – to also come from their elite group.

Those who think it is premature to crown a triumvirate of women’s tennis, 24-year-old Rybakina will agree.

“I think it’s too early to say anything about just three players, because it’s not like it was Roger or Djokovic,” said Rybakina. “It’s still too far.”

All three players are under the age of 26 and all have the necessary tools to win multiple tournaments and stay at the top of the leaderboard. Outside the group are players like Jessica Pegula, ranked No. 4. But Pegula said she agrees that the top three is the class of the women’s game and deserves the recognition, even if she would one day like to expand the number to four.

“I’m excited to have something we can talk about and fans can get involved with and hopefully be excited to see them battle it out,” Pegula said on Saturday. She defeated Lauren Davis in the first round on Monday. “But I hope to be a part of that conversation at some point. I think that’s all I have to say.”

Ons Jabeur, who lost to Rybakina in the Wimbledon final last year and to Swiatek in the US Open final, is a solid grass court player, who can also claim the Wimbledon title this year. Jabeur is another who believes that Swiatek, Sabalenka and Rybakina have distinguished themselves.

“For me, it’s inspiring to see them doing a great job,” Jabeur said. “You can learn a lot from them.”

Coco Gauff, who is only 19 and ranked No. 7, could also get into the mix one day. But not yet, not after she lost in the first round on Monday to Sofia Kenin, a former No. 4 player who is 24.

As Rybakina said on Tuesday, “Anyone can still beat anyone.”

As Wimbledon opened under a rainy sky, each of the top three players had at least one question to answer on the court before lifting the trophy. Swiatek, 22 and from Poland, has struggled on grass, never getting past the fourth round in her three attempts here.

She showed good form in Bad Homburg, a grass tournament for Wimbledon, but fell ill and had to withdraw after winning a quarterfinal. She looked fully recovered on Monday in her first round victory over Lin Zhu and a title here would earn her three of the last four majors.

Rybakina won Wimbledon last year with an amazing run of confidence and form, beating Jabeur in three sets for her first Grand Slam singles title. But her conditioning remains questionable. A virus forced her to pull out of the French Open last month, and she said the condition worsened after that. She’s fine now, she said, but she had to lighten up her workouts leading up to Wimbledon.

Sabalenka didn’t even play at Wimbledon last year. She is from Minsk, Belarus, and the tournament banned all players from Russia and Belarus from participating due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’s cooperation in that military incursion.

The amiable Sabalenka opened her press conference on Saturday before the tournament started by saying she would not answer questions about politics because she had done so several times before. (Rybakina was born in Moscow but plays for Kazakhstan).

Sabalenka said she could barely watch the tournament during her impromptu staycation last year.

“I haven’t watched Wimbledon much,” she said. “I felt so bad, and I just couldn’t watch it. Every time Wimbledon came on TV I would cry.”

Therefore, she has played just eight matches on grass in the last two years, including only two this year leading up to Wimbledon, and has gone 5-3. Perhaps even more concerning than the surface was her devastating loss at the French Open last month. She served for the semifinal at 5-2 and allowed Karolina Muchova to come back and win.

Sabalenka, 25, who won her first major tournament at this year’s Australian Open, was asked this week about her level of confidence on grass and said: “I don’t like to talk about confidence.”

She continued, “It’s kind of weird to me. I just want to say that I strongly believe that I can do well on grass. I have already done it. I feel good on grass.”

She certainly played well in her first-round win on Tuesday. Federer took off after Andy Murray won, missing out on seeing Sabalenka hit a masterful shot between the legs from the baseline, with her back to the net. Her opponent, Panna Udvardy of Hungary, was ready at the net to volley the point away. Sabalenka smiled and raised her fist to greet the artistic rally, en route to a straight set victory, 6-3, 6-2.

“I missed this place a lot,” she said on court afterwards, “that’s why I played my best tennis today.”