Newly minted Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina can take pride and satisfaction in a job well done, with a big payday to reward her memorable fortnight Down Under.
I have always believed that I can get back to the level I was at. Of course we all have ups and downs. Like, I think everyone thought, or maybe I’ll never be in the final again, or even get a trophy, but it’s all about the work. I think we did a lot of work with the team, and they were very helpful as well. At times when I might not have been so positive, they helped. When you get some wins, big wins against top players, of course you start to believe more, you get more self-confidence. That was about the way Elena Rybakina
Her 6-4 4-6 6-4 victory over world number 1 Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday’s final came just two months after their championship clash at the 2025 WTA Finals in Riyadh, where Rybakina also prevailed.
In Melbourne it was a 2 hour and 18 minute war of attrition, pitting the two most powerful forwards in the women’s match against each other, and it was Rybakina who was once again the most consistent and mentally strongest.
Sabalenka, the top seed, had arrived in the final as clear favourites, while Rybakina was considered the dark horse in the draw, with attention firmly focused on Iga Swiatek, who was looking for a Grand Slam career, Coco Gauff, who was aiming for her third Major, and Amanda Anisimova who was aiming for her first after playing in the last two big-four finals.
They all fell away, Rybakina confidently fulfilling Swiatek’s hopes in the quarterfinals, and then sixth seed Jessica Pegula in the semifinals.
On a spectacular Saturday at Melbourne Park, 26-year-old Rybakina then defeated Sabalenka in a gripping final like a deadly assassin, avenging her loss in the AO 2023 championship match and clinching her second major after her 2022 Wimbledon win.
Sabalenka, after a crucial hold and a break to end the second set, squandered a 3-0 lead in the decider and later paid tribute to her conqueror.
“Even in this final I feel like I played great. I was fighting. I did my best and today she was a better player,” said the AO 2023 and 2024 champion.
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Rybakina’s reward for winning the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup was AUD$4.1 million (USD$2.75 million) in prize money, and a return to her career-high ranking of No. 3 in the world on Monday.
The Russian-born Kazakh had stormed back to win six of the last seven matches to secure the championship, appropriately putting herself over the finish line with an ace, her 47th at Melbourne Park, which equated to just under seven per match, and building on her status as the tour’s 2025 leader in the ace shooting category.
Meanwhile, Sabalenka has been in a losing finalist position before, having now lost four at the Majors, but of the four Grand Slams she has won, two have been Australian Open titles.
“Let’s hope that maybe next year will be a better year for me,” the 27-year-old Belarusian said during her press conference, facing the reality of finishing second for the second consecutive year at Rod Laver Arena.
Sabalenka reached Saturday’s final in formidable form as she plowed through every match without dropping a set throughout the fortnight of the main draw.
Rybakina and Sabalenka were the first pair to face each other in a women’s Grand Slam final, with Nether having dropped a set along the way, since Wimbledon 2008, and the first in Melbourne in 22 years.
After last year’s final loss to Madison Keys, Sabalenka made it her mission to work on her mental game to keep a tighter rein on her emotions and maintain more control, and every match had been a new opportunity to test herself.
“I look at each defeat individually because I feel like almost every time it was different players, and different problems I faced during the match, different mistakes,” the world No. 1 said. “Some of them were great games, I played unbelievable. So I think I look at it individually.
“You know, today you’re a loser; tomorrow you’re a winner. Hopefully this season I’ll be more of a winner than a loser,” she added with a laugh. ‘Now hope and pray.
“I feel in general [the match] was much better than the previous one [year’s] two finals I lost,” she added, referring to her defeat in the final at Roland Garros after her loss to Keys in Australia. “As for the level, and the decision I made, and the way the mentality was throughout the whole match, that I was still there, I was ready to fight, I knew she wouldn’t give it easy to me.
“So I think overall I’ve made a huge improvement on that, and I’m still losing that. But it’s OK. I feel like I’m going in the right direction.”
Enjoying a traditional glass of champagne after her victory, Elena Rybakina celebrates with the media during her post-final press conference
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It is an Australian Open tradition for the champion to hold a champagne toast with the media just before the post-final press conference, hosted by tournament director Craig Tiley.
The Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup was on the podium with Rybakina and it was probably one of her most favorite press conferences, even in the late hours.
Rybakina reflected on her performance under the closed roof of the Rod Laver Arena on Saturday evening, amid all the noise of the battle, when she took the initiative, found her inner peace and calmed the emotions in her head.
“Trust yourself, trust yourself, believe in yourself,” her team kept telling her, and even during a break in the deciding set against the world No. 1, the 26-year-old never doubted herself.
“I’ve always believed that I can get back to the level I was at,” she says. “Of course we all have ups and downs.
“I think everyone thought I might never be in the final again, or even get a trophy, but it’s all about the work. I think we put in a lot of work with the team, and they were very helpful as well. In the moments when I might not have been so positive, they would help me with that.”
“Of course, when you get some wins, big wins against top players, then you start to believe more, you get more self-confidence. That was kind of the way.”
AO champion Elena Rybakina posed for photographers along the Yarra River on Sunday
© Kelly Defina/Getty Images
After an emphatic breakthrough to claim her first Grand Slam title at the All England Club in 2022, Rybakina seemed destined to become a fixture on the business side of the majors, especially as she reached the Australian Open decider just six months later in what was widely regarded as one of the most contentious women’s Grand Slam finals of any quality.
However, a series of health and off-court problems negatively affected her self-confidence, and in the meantime she reached only one Grand Slam semi-final.
Three years after her first final at Melbourne Park, the Kazakh turned the tables on Sabalenka and added a decisive exclamation point to her return to the Top 3 in the world.
“It was a very exciting match in 2023. I felt that if I get my chances here, maybe I should take a little more risk and go for my chances,” Rybakina told reporters. “The second set was just as tough as the first.
“I got a lead and the break was early in the first set, so it was a bit easier, but in the second it was very close. I didn’t raise my level. She played well and it was difficult to come back in the third set.”
“I’m glad that because I was down, I was able to calm myself down, stop getting frustrated, concentrate on each point and stay closer to the score.”
Elena Rybakina avenges her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in the 2023 AO final and reflects on her renaissance since the end of last season after her win on Saturday
© Fiona Hamilton/Tennis Australia/AFP via Getty Images
After ranking fourth in the world rankings in July last year, Rybakina’s renaissance in the second half of last year came as a welcome turnaround and she finished the year undefeated at the WTA Finals.
“The most important thing is to stay healthy and play from start to finish,” she said at the start of this season in Brisbane. “The goal is always the same: to be healthy, fortunately of course, but yes, to win big titles.”
After adding Swiatek and Pegula to her victims along the way, she became the first woman to defeat three Top 10 opponents for the Australian Open crown since Naomi Osaka won the title seven years ago.
Her ninth win against a world number 1 was also her 20th win from her past 20 matches at tour level, and with a major title under her belt, further Grand Slams and the top spot are now firmly in her sights.
Four years after her Wimbledon breakthrough, this was a decidedly less stressful ordeal.
“I think I learned a lot through the experience and the years on tour,” Rybakina said. “Later, of course, you have the same emotions. You want to win, but it’s a little different.”
Saturday’s victory was a full-circle moment for Rybakina, who not only avenged her 2023 loss to Sabalenka on the same court but also became the fourth women’s singles player since 1975 to defeat both No. 1 and No. 2 en route to capturing the AO Championship.
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