Aryna the 'neutral' achieves Australian Open glory

Double-faulting on her first championship point at 5-4 in the decider, Aryna Sabalenka let out a scream of frustration. She’d been there before, in the company of her long-standing troubles: a wobbly second serve and nervy mind. On the fourth championship point after Elena Rybakina’s forehand sailed long, Sabalenka slumped to the ground, arms covering the sobbing face. She’d not been there before, in the company of her newfound title: Grand Slam champion.

The Belarusian got there banishing two of her biggest demons and defeating the reigning Wimbledon champion 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the closely-battled Australian Open final for her first major crown at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.

For one of the cleanest strikers of the ball on the women’s tour with 11 WTA titles and two straight year-end world No 2 finishes, it took some time coming. Yet, it was evident what kept the 24-year-old thrice Grand Slam semi-finalist waiting.

Sabalenka’s double faults were a menace too enormous and too consistent for her to win majors. In her four matches at last year’s Australian Open, she hit 56 of them among the whopping 428 the entire season.

Then there was her mind that often would not complement her tennis. In each of her three losses in Grand Slams last year—the Belarusian was banned from competing in Wimbledon and became the first Grand Slam champion as a neutral on Sunday as Russian and Belarusian players compete only as individuals —Sabalenka bagged the first set before throwing it away, her tendency to crumble in the big matches an increasing trend.

With “the craziest team on the tour” comprising coach Anton Dubrov, who was also in tears after the last point, Sabalenka got down to work in search of solutions for both. “We’ve been through a lot of, I would say, downs last year,” she said on court. “We worked so hard and you guys deserve this trophy.”

Acknowledging that her serve did require fixing, she approached a biomechanics expert to inject some semblance of consistency in her powerful yet erratic serve. Result: Sabalenka's double fault count almost halved (29) in the seven matches this year in Melbourne.

While seeking help from one professional, she got rid of another. Sabalenka stopped working with her sports psychologist, admittedly understanding that nobody else could help her in those make-or-break moments on court. Result: Not even the frittering away of three championship points—the second and third also due to Sabalenka’s errors—could dismantle her mentally.

"I just kept telling myself, ‘Nobody said this is going to be easy. She's going to fight. This is the final. Just work for it. Take a deep breath and just work’," Sabalenka said.

"I was just super happy that I was able to handle all the emotions in the last game.”

That’s aside from handling the Rybakina serve, a handful as her tournament-high 54 aces shows. Sabalenka not only out-hit (she had 51 winners to Rybakina's 31) but also out-aced (17 to 9) and out-served the Kazakh, winning an equal percentage (71) of first serve points, and higher (47 to 44) off the second.

Mind you, this was a final between one who could sell aces for free and one who couldn’t buy a second serve some months ago.

A double fault was how Sabalenka, not too surprisingly, began her first Slam final. And 40-0 in the third game also quickly turned into a tricky break point after another misdirected second serve, with Sabalenka’s wide forehand giving Rybakina the leg up.

The variety in placement to go with the power of the Rybakina serve gave Sabalenka little room to anticipate. But when she did while also pressing the offence button a bit more, she broke back with a backhand winner to a charging Rybakina’s slice for 4-4.

The Sabalenka second serve—she dished out two more double faults in the ninth game—though continued to put her in a hole. Rybakina coolly pocketed the set with a hold to love after an unreturned serve (she had a 67% of them in that set).

Each of their three previous encounters had been three-setters. A significant momentum shift was, therefore, always in the offing. It kicked in after Sabalenka fended off a couple of break points at the start of the second set.

With the Belarusian’s ball striking lifting in its zone and zip, she got the break in the fourth game. Sabalenka, all the more dangerous on the prowl, was now swinging more freely and ferociously. With her returns not as denting, there was no way back for Rybakina in the set as Sabalenka signed off with two straight aces.

Tables turned, and so did the impact of the first strike. It was Sabalenka who was serving with more authority in the deciding set while Rybakina (she won just 5 of 17 points on second serve in it) was fending off lengthy deuce games. She saved two break points in the seventh game with quality first serves but at the third time of asking, on her second serve, Sabalenka broke through.

It was now about closing it out, something the old Sabalenka struggled with. Not this Sabalenka.

“I actually feel happy that I lost those matches, so right now I can be a different player and a different Aryna.”

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