Sabalenka

Aryna Sabalenka, the fifth seed from Belarus, roared back powerfully to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and take her first grand slam singles title.

On Saturday, she relied heavily on her serve to hold on in the tight final games. On Monday, she will rise to No 10 in the rankings from her current position of 25th, breaking the top 10 for the first time in her career at last. On her fourth match point, Sabalenka forced a final forehand error from Rybakina, and collapsed to the ground as a grand slam champion at last. Her victory is a validation of the perseverance and toil it has taken to improve both her mentality and game. She hired a psychologist, who helped her manage her emotions, before recently deciding to hold herself accountable. With her considerably heavier ball – her ability to combine pace and spin, unlike Rybakina’s flatter ball – alongside her greater athleticism, Sabalenka knew that she had the edge over Rybakina in any neutral rally. Sabalenka remains unbeaten in 2023, winning her first 11 matches of the season with two titles to her name. She spent her time in Adelaide throwing in underarm serves because she simply could not serve. Throughout the supreme winning run she has compiled to start this season, Aryna Sabalenka continually stressed that her mentality has shifted. Neither player shied away from the pressure of such a significant moment and they produced exquisite shotmaking from the beginning. Sabalenka, who hails from Belarus, is the first neutral athlete to win a singles grand slam tournament since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. She is more composed now, willing to work for her opportunities instead of swinging thoughtlessly for the fences.

Aryna Sabalenka fought back from a set down to defeat Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 4-6 6-3 6-4 and claim her first grand slam title in a terrific ...

The momentum now was with the 24-year-old, and she elevated her level again in the early stages of the decider, pushing ever closer to the lines but rarely beyond them in what was surely the best performance of her life. But Sabalenka proved up to the task of serving it out, clinching the set with a second serve ace to send the contest to a decider. In a battle of two of the biggest hitters in the women's game, Belarusian Sabalenka seized the initiative after dropping the opening set to win 4-6 6-3 6-4 and thus becomes the first singles player to win a slam under a neutral flag.

Aryna Sabalenka lies on the court during the women's final round match at the 2023 Australian. After winning the final match, against Elena Rybakina, with fifty ...

Her march to the Australian Open final had been important—a confirmation that Rybakina was one of the best players in the world, that her Wimbledon win was not a fluke. Sabalenka hit a thunderous overhead from a tricky position, the middle of the court, to take the break. She won the match on her third championship point, finishing with fifty-one winners to twenty-eight unforced errors, an astonishing ratio. She had to learn, she said, to fix her own problems on the court. She finished the year with more than four hundred double faults, more than a hundred more than the player with the second most. Rybakina came into the match as the twenty-second seed (and with the early outer-court assignments to match it). Her backhand seems chiselled to the essential motion and polished to smoothness, the way a sculpture can suggest the flow of water. And when the second set of the final began, and the pressure rose, she seemed to embrace it, and started to apply it herself. She had discovered, last year, that the problem was in her mind—but not only in the way one would imagine for a player with the yips. In the third game of the match, after firing an ace to go up 40–0, she watched her lead slip away, gifting a break point to Elena Rybakina with a double fault, and then losing the game with a loose forehand. She has a tiger’s face tattooed on her forearm, and a big cat’s rippling musculature. After Sabalenka scratched the break back to level the set at 4–4, Rybakina coolly got another, to go up 5–4, and then served out the set at love.

The Belarusian, who beat Elena Rybakina to win her first Grand Slam title on Saturday, held the trophy in triumph while the war in Ukraine remained a brutal ...

However you present her on the scoreboard, it was a Belarus victory. “Missing the Wimbledon was really tough for me,” she said. Her performance on Saturday was incontrovertible proof that they had succeeded, with the help of a biomechanical expert but also Sabalenka’s own resilience. Born and raised in Russia, she switched allegiance to Kazakhstan in exchange for financial support in 2018. Rybakina overpowered Swiatek in the fourth round in Melbourne on her way to the final. “And all that really starts from the people I was surrounded with. 2, behind Iga Swiatek, who still has a large lead based on her terrific 2022 season but who has lost to Sabalenka and Rybakina in the last two significant tournaments. It was tennis reminiscent of the big-serving, high-velocity duels between Serena and Venus Williams. But for the most part, it was strength versus strength; straight-line power against straight-line power. “I would like to have a quieter life,” she said after the mixed doubles final. Swiatek, the Polish star who looked set to become a dominant No. Anything less would not have sufficed against Elena Rybakina in their gripping, corner-to-corner final that might have been better suited to a ring as the two six-footers exchanged big blows for two hours and 28 minutes.

The 24-year-old dazzled as she showed off her new silverware after her come-from-behind win at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night - and revealed it wouldn't ...

I started to understand that actually I'm here because I work so hard and I'm actually good player. It was a long journey for us. I think you need to find someone else who's going to help you". 'But I knew that it's not about him. It's just something about me. He just said like, "I don't know what to do.

Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka took the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup on gondola tour through Melbourne's botanical gardens the morning after her ...

Just me and my trophy!" The newly-crowned major-winner, who'll return to No. Cloud 9 look an awful lot like Melbourne, Australia for Aryna Sabalenka on Sunday.

New Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka didn't get much sleep Saturday night after a rambunctious come-from-behind victory, but you wouldn't have known ...

"I like to pose. "It was a funny night, everyone was just too happy, so some of us didn't make it today, it was too much last night," Sabalenka laughed. "I'm always thinking about the match about some points and especially the last game," said Sabalenka about what was her maiden Grand Slam final.

Aryna Sabalenka calls winning the Australian Open best day of my life after victory over Elena Rybakina; Belarusian admits being forced to miss last years ...

I just need to work hard, same as I did during pre-season and actually throughout the years, be healthy and for sure the results are going to come." "I just have to play my game, be calm, and believe in myself, that I can actually get it. "I think in the end it's just confidence to go forward, to keep on working. Just the best day of my life right now. "It's not about Wimbledon right now. It's just about the hard work I've done.

The powerful Belarusian, who will become world No. 2 on Monday, showed a new side to her personality, posing effortlessly in front of the cameras.

The Belarusian claimed a 4-6 6-3 6-4 victory, becoming the first player to win a singles grand slam under a neutral flag.

But Sabalenka proved up to the task of serving it out, clinching the set with a second serve ace to send the contest to a decider. The final game was full of tension but Sabalenka made it across the line on her fourth opportunity before falling to the court in delight. In a battle of two of the biggest hitters in the women’s game, Belarusian Sabalenka seized the initiative after dropping the opening set to win 4-6 6-3 6-4 and thus becomes the first singles player to win a slam under a neutral flag.

Following Aryna Sabalenkas Australian Open title victory, world number one Iga Swiatek is set for some company at the top of womens tennis.

I started to understand that actually I'm here because I work so hard and I'm actually a good player. Every time I had a tough moment on court, I was just reminding myself that I'm good enough to handle all this." She hopes she can be a regular challenger at slams, saying: "Well, if it's going to be like this, it's great. "Now I have more confidence, of course, even after this final. I'm a player. I really want it again.

The Pole's consistency, as well as her titles at the French Open and US Open, put her miles ahead of the rest in 2022.

I started to understand that actually I’m here because I work so hard and I’m actually a good player. Every time I had a tough moment on court, I was just reminding myself that I’m good enough to handle all this.” I know that there is still a lot of things to work on to be better on court.” She hopes she can be a regular challenger at slams, saying: “Well, if it’s going to be like this, it’s great. “Now I have more confidence, of course, even after this final. I want even more and I want to become a better player.