Aryna Sabalenka had 11 WTA titles coming into the Australian Open. She was highly ranked as the second best player in the world. She went to the Grand Slam semifinals three times. He had $12 million dollars in career earnings. And yet, in his opinion, she was nobody.
“I always had this weird feeling that when people would come up to me and ask for autographs, I’d be like, ‘Why are you asking for autographs? I’m nobody. I’m a player. I don’t have grand slams and all that stuff. Is.
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Even as she worked towards erasing those doubts, the 25-year-old beat Elena Rybakina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 28 minutes to claim the 2023 Australian Open title. Got a big shot in hand as well. Exciting Tennis.
A year ago, the Belarussian committed 56 double faults in her four matches at the Australian Open. All those matches went the distance and in three of them, she lost the opening set. She came back to win but it was jittery stuff all the way. Kai Kanepi eventually halted the run in a third set tiebreak that ended 9–7. Oops.
Fast forward to 2023. He won the title in Adelaide without losing a set. Come Melbourne, she kept that streak going to earn herself a finals spot – her first Grand Slam championship match. The double fault tally had dropped to ‘just’ 22 from six matches.
With Wimbledon champion Rybakina at the net, she won the toss and opted to serve. First point, she went up and made a double fault. uh oh. Is it going to go horribly wrong once again?
Next point: Boom, ace. 176 kmph. Two points later he hit another ace, this one clocked at 189 kmph. Well, maybe not.
As the first set went on, Ryabkina did no wrong and the small margin worked in her favor. She served big, got very cheap points, and got six out of eight points on her second serve. Meanwhile, Sabalenka had five double faults and took only four of her 12 second serve points.
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If the first set was about fast play and lack of rallies, the second was far from it. The first set required 53 points while the second set required 26 more points – the equivalent of six more games. All but one game went 30-30 or more.
The Belarusian athlete began to land more strikes, became more aggressive and punched more winners. “I think Aryna raised her level in the second set. She played really well, aggressive, made a little less mistakes. I should have been more aggressive in some moments,” Rybakina said afterwards.
“Yeah, I had a few chances, definitely, to turn it around. But, yeah, she played really well today. She was strong mentally and physically.’
Serving for the match, Sabalenka double faulted on match point after breaking an all-important break in the seventh game. “Okay, this is going to be fun,” he said to himself. Slowly, two more match points came and went, with break points in between, and Sabalenka stayed in it. But was she about to speak?
“Nobody told you it was going to be easy, you just have to work for it, work for it till the last point,” she kept telling herself. And that last point came when Rybakina’s shot landed long and Sabalenka collapsed in a heap near the baseline at Rod Laver Arena.
He had dispelled all the fears of the coaching team and his own. He had just made his signing worth a lot more – that of a Grand Slam champion. Aryna Sabalenka – The newest name to be inscribed on the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup.
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