New York – Only a few seconds after the Australian Open -Final had closed in January, Aryna Sabalenka hit her racket through her chair on the court full of disgust.
Madison Keys had removed the upset – and Sabalenka just missed her third consecutive title at the major. Her disappointment could be felt via television screens around the world.
Sabalenka had her chance of Major Glory again, just a few months later, in the final in Roland Garros. She also lost there, this time from Coco Gauff, and she could not hide her anger in a postmatch speech and news conference, both of which quickly became viral for all the wrong reasons.
Weeks later, in Wimbledon, she fell to Amanda Anisimova in the semi-final in a three-set thriller. She left the court and the tournament, depressed and confused. She had been the world number 1 all season and had won two titles at 1000 level, but just couldn’t get it done if it mattered the most. She took some time away from tennis and tried to reset and learn from everything that had happened all season.
The 27-year-old Sabalenka arrived in New York Hungry-Wanht, self-to-release her year and end her big season by defending her title.
On Saturday, all the difficult losses felt and the repeated pain of the defeat she had felt the entire season, worth it. Jason Stacy, her performance coach, said she had started reading a motivating book called “Into the Magic Shop” na Roland Garros. He called it a “fairy-tale thing” and in New York she had her own fairy-tale ending.
Against Anisimova again confronted, although Sabalenka this time for a crowd heavy for the American in Arthur Ashe Stadium, claimed with a sometimes turbulent 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory in 94 minutes.
Sabalenka looked at the title at her third match point, in a different tiebreak, Sabalenka saw while the return of Anisimova went long. She fell on her knees and put her head in her hands, shaked tears while sobbing for nine months. The crowd jumped to their collective feet and roared under the closed roof. Sabalenka stayed on the floor for a few seconds before he stood and raised her arms to celebrate.
She had just become the first woman to repeated as champion since Serena Williams did this more than a decade ago – and avoided to be the first woman to lose in three major finals in a single season since Justine Henin in 2006. After what she had experienced, and all the heartache she had endured, her enlightenment could be felt.
“Those two finals where I completely lost control of my emotions, I just didn’t want this to happen again,” said a radiant Sabalenka shortly thereafter during an interview on the ESPN broadcast. “And there were a few moments in which I was so that I just let it go. But I had something like that:” Come on. You can’t do that. You just have to stay focused and continue to try. ” And it really helped me “
There has never been any doubt about the power or talent of Sabalenka, nor her work ethics or ambition.
Although never a junior star like many of her colleagues – Anisimova won the US Open Girls’ title of 2017 – Sabalenka achieved success in her early years as a professional and quickly came up. By 2018 she had won her first WTA title and was the newcomer of the year of the WTA. By the following year she had won her first big title at the US Open in Doubles.
But Sabalenka, like so many tennis players, is naturally a perfectionist. She knows how good she can be if she can be at her best and has worked tirelessly to get her game at an elite level. When she was struggling with her serving in 2022, I was so paralyzing on the field that she was considering retiring, she brought in a biomechanics expert to help her pass by and refine her service motion. For years she was worried about taking too much free time – an almost impossibility in the debilitating WTA schedule – and was hard for herself when she returned to practice when there were signs of rust.
That dedication has contributed to an amazing success. Since reaching her first major semi -final in Wimbledon in 2021, after she had focused her focus exclusively to singles to singles earlier that year, despite many who encourage her to continue with both, Sabalenka has been on tour. After she had been in control of the misery the following year, she reached the quarterfinals or better with every major she has played and has improved to four of the last five finals and all six of the previous hard court final. She has arranged the number 1 since October and has shown few signs to solve it.
But with all of that, sky -high levels of expectations have come, and she has exerted an even higher degree of pressure in itself. She has not achieved what she knows, has enabled them to collapse, such as the racket smashing in Melbourne, as well as her speech and comments in Paris. After her 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 loss for Gauff in the French open final, Sabalenka was in tears and the blame later gave the flag wind for her performance.
“The circumstances were terrible and she was simply better in these circumstances than me,” Sabalenka told reporters. “I think it was the worst final I have ever played.”
Sabalenka was immediately called a painful loser and some of her other comments about Gauff were still poorly received by the public. (She apologized later and Gauff accepted gracefully.) Sabalenka and her team then concentrated on the challenge of how Sabalenka could find a way to win when she didn’t play at her best or were not ideal.
Max Mirnyi, a former world doubles No. 1 and six times large double champion from Belarus, joined the Sabalenka team prior to the hard court, and he continued to repeat that lesson together during their time.
“One of my most important starting lines that come in the team and sometimes speak to Aryn directly is passing on the message that there is no such thing as a perfect tennis match,” Mirnyi said Friday. “There is no such thing as perfection on a tennis court. You can take the best competitions from [Novak] Djokovic and [Roger] Federer or Steffi Graf … There will always be a few things that did not go according to plan, and they are the better champions who know how to react and adapt to the result. “
It is something that her team has been able to consider Sabalenka and remind us of every time she plays on Ashe, because a sign with “pressure is a privilege” by Billie Jean King with a prominent representation of the entrance of the court.
The group also reminds her of the second, less famous, part of King’s quote: “Champions Pas.”
With King in the stands on Saturday, as well as a number of other former tennis champions, including Tracy Austin, Monica Seles, Andy Roddick, Stan Smith and Virginia Wade, Sabalenka did exactly that.
Twice a break in the second set and good on her way to victory, Sabalenka struggled to close it. Sabalenka served on 5-4 and only two points away from the trophy and hit what an easy lob overhead should have been in the net. She dropped her racket on the floor in apparent disbelief. Anisimova then won the next point to get the break and even the set on 5-all.
Sabalenka admitted reporters that she almost “lost” it after the missed overhead smash, but found a way to stay composed.
“You can’t make mistakes on important points,” she said. “Sometimes it can be crucial, from my experience. So yes, that was the moment, but then I turned around and I took a deep breath, and I was,” Ok, it happens. It’s in the past. Let’s concentrate on the next one. “
Two more games later and a tiebreak followed. But instead of struggling under pressure, Sabalenka – who had won her previous 19 tiebreaks – took control. Although she needed three match points, and she deeply exhaled for each, the outcome seemed to be hardly any doubt and the extra points were just a formality.
After he was first announced as the US Open Champion 2025, Sabalenka found her way to her team in her box. While many players walk on the field and up the stairs, as Sabalenka did before, she took her time, walking and high-fiving fans before embracing every member of her coaching staff, as well as her agent and friends.
“I mean, this year it has been difficult with that final,” Sabalenka said a little later during the trophy presentation while she spoke to her team. “I was really terrible opposite you, but come on. Worth it, right? Thank you very much. I love you. You are my family. “
With thousands of fans watching during her television interview, Sabalenka said she would drink some drinks on the spot to start her party because “you have to enjoy [it]”After all the hard work. While she spoke, and the smile continued to radiate on her face, it was clear that, regardless of how devastating the previous definitive losses were at the moment, it made the triumph of Saturday even sweeter.
And while she looked at Anisimova’s stunned face, her own tears stained after losing her second consecutive Grand Final, while she was on stage with her second trophy, Sabalenka could not help but give sentiment.
“I know how much it hurts to lose in the final,” said Sabalenka as she turned around and looked at Anisimova. “But believe me, the moment you win your first, and you’re going to win it … You will enjoy it even more after all the hard losses in the final.”
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