By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
Aryna Sabalenka used to be called the best player in tennis to have not reached a Grand Slam tournament quarterfinal.
Now she has the label of 2023 Australian Open women’s singles champion.
The hard-hitting and swinging player from Belarus shook off the tag as a talented but mentally unstable underachiever to defeat reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to win her breakthrough first major singles title.
Despite being ranked No. 2 in the world in 2021 in her fifth year of WTA Tour level pro tennis, Sabalenka did not reach her first major QUARTERFINAL until Wimbledon in 2021, where she reached the semifinals, losing to Karolina Pliskova by a narrow 6-4 in the third set margin. She then, subsequently reached two more semifinals at the U.S. Open in 2021 and 2022, losing both again in very disappointing circumstances, in 2021 as the No. 2 seed to unseeded Leylah Fernandez 6-4 in the third set, and in 2022 to No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek, losing the last four games of the game to also lose by the same 6-4 in the third set scoreline.
Her run this year in Australia moved her into a major final for the first time and, despite losing the first set to Rybakina, was able to persist to join the elite company in pro tennis as a winner of a major championship.
Sabalenka recent mental struggles on the court were highlighted by her numerous double-faults, 428 during the 2022 WTA season. Her mind was so unconfident of her serve that she even resulted at times to serve underhanded. Not surprisingly, she sought out the help of psychologists for mental health to get her through her troubles, but ultimately realized that she had to endure for herself.
Sabalenka showed these nerves in the first set of her final with Rybakina, hitting five double faults and winning only four points on her second serve in the first set. In the final set, she needed four match points to close to Rybakina, blowing her first match point with….a double fault.
Rybakina was looking at add to her legacy by notching a second major singles title after her unexpected win at Wimbledon last summer. Despite winning at the All England Club, the soft-spoken Russian-born player who represents Kazakhstan, was not accorded with the usual fanfare that a Wimbledon champion normally receives. She did not receive much of a marketing push by those in her camp and from the WTA and was often assigned to secondary courts by tournament organizers. In Australia, she began the tournament playing the last match of the opening day on Court 13, a slight that Rybakina used as motivation toward her run to the final, that included an upset over world No. 1 Iga Swiatek when finally assigned to play a match in the Rod Laver Arena main stadium.
