Pouring rain in Melbourne Park kept the center court roof closed during the women’s final of the Australian Open, turning Rod Laver Arena into a concert hall full of tennis music. But there was one sound that wasn’t quite right. In the sacred moments preceding each player’s serving motion, the crowd generally obeyed protocol requiring silence. However, a single bird – somewhere high in the rafters – was less compliant.
It must not have been able to escape on Saturday afternoon before the roof closed, so that’s where it stayed. Tweet-tweet. An unusual accompaniment to a grand slam final. No one could see the beast, though they tried for a long time, while dozens of the 15,000-strong crowd craned their necks in curiosity. Even the referee kept looking up, only realizing the limits of his broad powers. Tweet-tweet.
The strange, sweet birdsong was pleasant and familiar, as was the match below. With two players at the pinnacle of tennis – world number 1 in Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina, soon to be number 3 regardless of the outcome – who knew each other well. Their power plays are well-coordinated and their continued success has often brought them together. They had dueled more times than anyone on tour, fourteen times in total.
Chief among these was the final at Melbourne Park three years ago, which marked the big breakthrough for Sabalenka, and – after giving up a one-set lead – one of several setbacks suffered by Rybakina in recent years that have become fodder for tour whispers.
But as the wild animals of Rod Laver Arena continued to whistle, those whispers were silenced. The Kazakshtani secured the first set and tested Sabalenka in a fierce second. Around this time, a newly downloaded bird app identified the sound as originating and a gembut not the noisy type.
The tenor of the match would soon change, however, as Rybakina collapsed and handed the second set to her opponent – failing to win a point on serve at 4-5 – and falling to an early break in the third set. A 16-shot rally in that match was an arm-wrestle, a microcosm of the final so far.
The pair went backhand to backhand until Rybakina bowed. For the loser, there was no anger, no wild gestures, just a forlorn woman who looked like she wanted to be somewhere else. By the way, the bird was also silent.
The contrast with Sabalenka was poignant. In terms of clothing, the world number 1 wore orange and pink, stitched with black and blue and paired with jewelry, while her opponent walked around in functional off-white. At the end of each point, whether they won or lost, Sabalenka gave a reaction: she waved her hand in dismay, shouted “let’s go,” or pointed to her head as if wondering what she was thinking.
The on-court theater and off-court charisma have won her many fans and they roared in the third set as she closed in on her third Australian Open victory. “Come on, Tiger: you got this,” shouted one loud supporter, referring to the animal that is now an important part of the Aryna brand.
By comparison, there were fewer Rybakina supporters. Perhaps the most vocal was Malika Batkuldina. The civil engineer and tennis fan had a handmade sign scrawled in chalk with the text “Lena ace” and a crown to signify that Rybakina was the tournament’s best server. Batkuldina had flown to Australia for the tournament last week to support a group of Kazakhstani players led by Alexander Bublik and Rybakina.
Although both were recruited from Russia as teenagers, she saw no reason not to support them. “It doesn’t matter where she was born,” said Batkuldina, who described Rybakina as “calm and more introverted, not so social and [an] extrovert, [or an] emotional person”.
As the third set neared its climax, the bird resumed its song. It was almost drowned out by an arena full of noise, amplified by all of Sabalenka’s fire and fury. But through the crescendo, Rybakina maintained a quiet determination. She was an eye in the storm, patiently clawing back against Sabalenka, then completing the upset with a minimum of fuss.
She had defeated the queen of the hard court, the best player in the world, the modern benchmark for the sport. Yet there were no outbursts after the final point, no dramatic court collapse. Just a brief clenched fist and a nod to her team to mark a very loud victory.
#wing #prayer #Rybakinas #quiet #determination #denies #Sabalenka #glory #Jack #Snape