He greeted the group in the Millennium building, before crossing the bridge to the central track to watch Saturday’s final from the Royal Lodge.
Saturday’s historic final at SW19 saw Russia’s Elena Rybakina, who represents Kazakhstan, compete against Tunisian player Ons Jabeur for her first Grand Slam title.
As a patron, the Duchess of Cambridge presented the trophies to both the winner and runner-up in a ceremony on the central court that took place after the match.
This has sparked controversy that a member of the British royal family ended up “congratulating someone from Russia” in a year in which Russian and Belarusian players were banned from Wimbledon due to the invasion of Ukraine.
Andrei Chesnokov, the former Russian tennis player who has worked with Rybakina, told the Russian website championat.com: “Lena lives in Moscow, grew up and became a player here … Congratulations to the royal family, they will have to congratulate someone from Russia. ”
Rybakina, 23, was born and raised in Russia and played under the flag of her home country until 2018, when the lure of increased funding from Kazakhstan saw her change her international loyalty.
Before meeting the Duchess, Rybakina said, “It’s an honor and I will be very excited for this moment, regardless of whether I win or lose. I think it is something to remember and it will be amazing.”
Before leaving for the central court, the Duchess spoke with two semifinalists of the inaugural U-14 and junior championships: 14-year-old British player Isabelle Britton and 13-year-old American Carel Ngounoue.
The group could be heard talking about the defeat of British tennis star Cameron Norrie in the semi-final against Novak Djokovic on Friday, with the Duchess saying, “He’s playing a good game, he really did.”
The youngsters then said they also spoke to the Duchess about her experience playing at Wimbledon and said she congratulated them on getting here.
Carel said, “It’s definitely an honor to meet her. It’s great to have this opportunity to meet someone so important.”