NEW YORK – Just seconds after the Australian Open Finals ended in January, Alina Sabalenka smashed her racket in her chair in court in disgust.
Madison Keys pulled away the upset – and Sabalenka missed out on winning three consecutive major titles. Her disappointment could be felt through television screens all over the world.
Sabalenka had another great opportunity for glory in the final at Roland Garros a few months later. She lost there too. This time I went to Coco Gough. And she couldn’t hide her anger in her post-match speech and press conference.
A few weeks later, at Wimbledon, she fell to Amanda Anisimova in the semi-finals in a three-set thriller. She left the court and the tournament became disappointing and confused. She was number one in the world all season, winning two 1000-level titles, but was unable to accomplish that when it mattered most. She tried to move away from tennis a little and reset and learn from everything that had happened throughout the season.
Sabalenka, 27, has arrived in New York – even hopeless, ending her major season by redeeming her year and defending her title.
On Saturday, all the tough losses and the repeated pain of defeats she felt throughout the season were worth it. Her performance coach Jason Stacey said she began reading books that motivated her to “not enter the magic store” after Roland Garros. He called it “fairy tale-like.” And in New York, she had the ending of her own fairy tale.
This time he faced Anishimova again in front of the crowd in favor of the Americans at Arthur Ash Stadium, but Sabalenka claimed the fourth major title, winning in the sometimes disrupted 6-3, 7-6 (3) 94 minutes.
Sabalenka won the title with the third match point and saw Anishimoba’s return longer with an otherwise biased tiebreak. She kneeled, grabbed her head and shook her eyes, crying nine months’ worth of tears. The crowd jumped onto their group’s feet and roared under the closed roof. Sabalenka stayed on the ground for a few seconds before standing at the celebration and raising her arms.
She has become the first woman to be repeated as a champion since Serena Williams did that more than a decade ago. And she avoided becoming the first woman to lose in three major finals in her single season since Justin Henin in 2006.
“The two finals, which completely lost control of their emotions, didn’t want this to happen again,” Beaming Sabalenka said shortly after an interview with ESPN broadcast. “And there were some moments when I just let it go and it seemed like this. But I said, ‘Come now. You can’t do it. You just need to keep focused, keep going, keep trying.” And it really helped me. ”
There was no doubt about Sabalenka’s power, talent, her work ethic and ambitions.
A junior star like many of her fellow members, Anishimova won the 2017 US Open Girls title, but Sabalenka was successful in her early days as a professional, quickly climbing the ranks. By 2018, she had won her first WTA title and was WTA’s newcomer of the year. By the following year, she had won her first major title in doubles at the US Open.
But Sabalenka, like so many tennis players, is essentially a perfectionist. She knows how good she can do when she’s at her best and has worked tirelessly to bring her game to an elite level. When she struggled with her serve in 2022 – she was extremely lame with the thought of retirement and her retirement – she brought in a biomechanics expert to help her get through it and fine-tune her service movements. For many years, she was worried about taking too much time – nearly impossible with a strict WTA schedule, and when she returned to practice with any signs of rust, she was struggling herself.
That dedication has led to incredible success. Since reaching her first major semi-finals at Wimbledon in 2021, Sabalenka has undoubtedly been the most consistent player on the tour despite switching her focus to singles earlier in the year and encouraging many to continue both. The following year, after controlling for serving, she reached the quarterfinals in every major she played, reaching four of her past five finals and all six of the past six hard court finals. She has held the No. 1 ranking since October, with few indications showing that she would abandon it.
But it’s all high expectations and she puts even higher pressure on herself. The failure to achieve what she knows she can do, like Racket Smashing in Melbourne and speeches and comments in Paris, led to a meltdown. After a 6-4 defeat to Goff in her 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 French Open Final, Sabalenka shed tears and later she denounced the gust of wind for her performance.
“The situation was terrible and she was better in these conditions than I did,” Sabalenka told reporters. “I think it was the worst final I’ve ever played.”
Sabalenka was quickly called the painful loser, and some of her other comments about Gouf were further unacceptable by the public. (She later apologized, and Gouf politely accepted.) Sabalenka and her team focused on the challenge of how Sabalenka could find a way to win when she wasn’t doing her best or when conditions weren’t ideal.
Max Milny, formerly Belarus’ first place and six-time major doubles champion, joined Sabalenka’s team ahead of the hard court season.
“One of my main starting lines has come into the team and sometimes talking directly to Aryna gives a message that there’s nothing like a perfect tennis match,” Mirnyi said Friday. “There’s nothing perfect on the tennis court. You can have the best match between Djokovic and (Roger) Federer or Steffig. There’s always something that doesn’t go according to your plan, they’re the better champions who know how to respond and adjust right away.”
The placard featuring Billy Jean King’s “Pressure is Privilege” is on a prominent display at the court entrance, allowing her team to contemplate and remind Sabalenka every time she played for Ash.
The group also reminds us of the second, unfamous, “Champions Adjustment” of King’s quote.
With King in the stands on Saturday, along with many other former tennis champions, including Tracy Austin, Monica Ceres, Andy Rodick, Stan Smith and Virginia Wade, Sabalenka did just that.
He took two breaks on the second set and looked closely on his way to victory, and Sabalenka struggled to close it. Just two points away, 5-4, from the trophy, Sabalenka hit what should have been an overhead lob with ease into the net. She dropped the racket to the ground in obvious disbelief. Anishimoba then scored the next point, getting a break and even a set with five all.
Sabalenka admitted to reporters that after the overhead smash he missed, he almost “lost it” but found a way to continue the composition.
“You can’t make this kind of mistake in an important way,” she said. “It can be important from my experience, so yeah, that was the moment, but then I turned around and I took a deep breath.
Two more games followed, followed by a tiebreak. But instead of robbing the flounder under pressure, Sabalenka, who had won the previous 19 tiebreaks, took control. She needed three match points and gave a deep breath before each, but the outcome was barely questionable, and the extra points were merely form.
After being first announced as the 2025 US Open champion, Sabalenka has found her way into her team. As Sabalenka had before, many players had escaped the court and climbed the stairs, but she spent time on Walking and High Five fans before embracing each member of the coaching staff and agents and friends.
“This year, these finals were tough,” Sabalenka said at the moment in her trophy presentation when she addressed the team. “I was really bad for you, but please come. Is it worth it? Thank you very much. I love you. You are my family.”
With thousands of fans watching during the TV interview, Sabalenka said she was going to drink a drink at the bar to start her celebration after all the effort, “You have to enjoy it.” It was clear that, no matter how devastating the previous final losses were, she’d even sweetened Saturday’s victory.
And when she saw Anishimoba’s stunned face, she was stained with her own tears after losing in the second consecutive major final.
“I know how painful it hurts to lose in the final,” Sabalenka said, looking back at Anishimoba. “But trust me, the moment you win your first one, and you will win it… you will enjoy it even more after all the intense losses in the final.”
