Aryna Sabalenka Wins the Australian Open Women’s Singles Title

Ayrna Sabalenka is no longer afraid of the big stage.

Overcoming a history of buckling under pressure in the final rounds of Grand Slam tennis, Sabalenka, the powerful 24-year-old from Belarus, came back to beat Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 4-6, 6-3, 6 -4 in the final. Australian Open women’s singles final on Saturday.

In a match between two of the sport’s greatest players, Sabalenka proved to be a few clicks more clinical than Rybakina at key moments to end a summer of tennis dominance in Australia. . It was Sabalenka’s first Grand Slam title in a tumultuous career that included mistakes and crises at a crucial moment that some players almost never recovered from.

Instead, the match proved a microcosm of Sabalenka’s career – an unstable start, full of ill-timed double errors, followed by a steady mid-game rebound before showing. raw strength and precision in the final set that her opponent couldn’t answer.

At the last point, full of anxiety, Rybakina made a long forehand. Instantly, Sabalenka was lying on her back on the green field, tears of joy – and relief.

Holding the trophy on stage a few minutes later, Sabalenka turned to her coaches and thanked them for being with her on this emotional journey to her first Grand Slam title.

“We went through a lot of ups and downs,” she said. “It’s more about you than about me.”

It was difficult, of course, especially on a night where she had to overcome an opponent who had proven herself on a stage like this before.

Rybakina, a native Russian who became a citizen of Kazakhstan 5 years ago in exchange for financial supportis aiming to support her Wimbledon Championships and declared himself a major threat in women’s tennis.

Instead, it was Sabalenka who demonstrated the mettle needed to survive the kind of high-reward, high-risk tennis match that seemed inevitable from the earliest days of a tournament in which the Ideal condition for the biggest, flattest tennis players.

When the players first arrived in Melbourne more than two weeks ago, they said the combination of heat, humidity and surface preparation made the balls difficult to spin, giving players an advantage. their first serve and tore off nearly every rally track as though they get extra credit for the velocity.

That suits Rybakina and Sabalenka very well, as they play with the champion’s silver trophy glistening on a pedestal in the corner, in case either of them tries to pretend it’s just another game.

Going into the final, Rybakina led the field with aces with 45. Sabalenka was third with 29. They were first and second in hitting the opponent’s serve winner, and also topped the rankings for highest serve speeds, with both hitting 120 miles per hour.

The tennis is delicate, dexterous, which is not, and for Rybakina, it was so different from her title run at Wimbledon in July, when she played against Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, one of the hands. The most innovative racket in the sport.

It’s also psychologically different, and not just because she’s doing something in Australia that she’s done before and her opponent isn’t.

Rybakina, a Russian from childhood who became a citizen of Kazakhstan when the country promised to pay for her tennis training, spent nearly two weeks during Wimbledon talking about whether is she really Kazakh or Russian. She was also asked to answer about her homeland’s invasion of Ukraine when she won the title. Her family still lives in Russia and Wimbledon banned players from Russia and Belarus from participating.

It’s Sabalenka sidelined, one of the few players that can match and often top, Rybakina thud thud thump.

However, Sabalenka’s strength is different from Rybakina’s. Both players are 1.8m tall, but Sabalenka swings her tennis racquet like a lumberjack wielding an ax, screaming with effort in every shot, every bit of struggle and emotion in her eyes, while her wings. Rybakina’s long arms make her look like a human catapult. shooting in silence and with no sign of the chaos stirring within.

As Sabalenka settled in and fixed the score, the match became the test of which high-octane tennis can withstand the pressure of the final set for one of the sport’s greatest championships. . As the reigning Wimbledon champion playing against a player who reached a Grand Slam final for the first time, Rybakina had the invaluable advantage of experience, but Sabalenka had all the momentum, and the balls. jumped off her rope with a pop and a pull that Rybakina couldn’t compete with.

Scorecards showed they traded serve games for the first six games, but Sabalenka controlled the journey and Rybakina had to keep looking for big serves or small escape routes to stay the same.

Serving in the seventh game Rybakina couldn’t do it anymore. On her third chance to win the crucial serve break, Sabalenka staggered her opponent after the shots, then ended the game with a header from midfield. Two matches since the championship and in the driver’s seat, Sabalenka threw her fists, took a deep breath and took a sip of water as she turned, then strutted back to the court to claim the title.

An ace in the corner of the service box gives her a game to raise the trophy, which will be hers if she can avoid wobbling.

On Thursday, after reaching her first Grand Slam final on her fourth attempt, Sabalenka spoke of having fired her sports psychologist. She decides that she is the only one who can find a way to overcome the mental struggles that have caused her to suffer in the past.

“Every time I hope that someone will solve my problem, it doesn’t solve my problem,” she said. “I just have to take this responsibility, and I have to deal with that. I don’t work with a psychologist anymore. I am my psychologist.”

For a moment, the old Sabalenka reappeared as she attempted to serve to end the game 5-4. She beat Rybakina to get her first match point, then double fouled for Rybakina to come back. Then, at Sabalenka’s fourth match point, Rybakina hunched over, hit that forehand very far and the overwhelmed Sabalenka lay on his back.

The match ended. Demons are banished. And a new member of the sport’s most respected club.