Jabeur can become the first African Grand Slam winner ever at Wimbedon | NOW

Ons Jabeur can provide a first in its first Grand Slam final on Saturday. When the Tunisian number two in the world takes care of Elena Rybakina on the grass of Wimbledon, she will go down in the books as the first African Grand Slam winner ever.

Jabeur is already the first African in a Grand Slam final in the Open Era (the start of professional tennis) in 1968. Since then, two players from South Africa have been among the men in a Grand Slam final: Johan Kriek at the Australian Open in 1981 and Kevin Anderson in 2017 at the US Open and a year later at Wimbledon.

Before the start of the Open Era, three South African women were already in a Grand Slam final: Irene Bowder in 1927 at Roland Garros, Renée Schuurman in 1959 at the Australian Open and Sandra Reynolds in 1960 at Wimbledon.

Because Peacock, Schuurman and Reynolds lost, Jabeur can provide a first by winning in London. She is in shape with eleven wins in her last eleven matches on grass and can become the third player this century after Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams to play more than eleven matches on grass without defeat.

Rybakina already has a scoop with final spot

Jabeurs opponent Rybakina, the number 23 in the world, is also the first to represent her country in a Grand Slam final. For both the men and the women, there has never before been a participant from Kazakhstan in the final of a Grand Slam tournament.

Until this edition of Wimbledon, the best result of a Kazakh in a Grand Slam tournament in the open era was reaching the quarterfinals. That round was previously reached by Yaroslava Shvedova (three times), Yulia Putintseva (three times) and Rybakina herself (once).

The Wimbledon final will be the fourth ever meeting between Jabeur and Rybakina at WTA level. Rybakina won the first meeting in 2019 at the Wuhan Open, while Jabeur later emerged victorious in both Dubai and Chicago. All previous encounters were played on a hard surface.

The Wimbledon final starts on Saturday at 3 p.m. The winner of the match will become the first woman to win her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon since Marion Bartoli in 2013.