Sabalenka Redeems Herself: Conquers US Open and Proves Her #1

In January, after the Australian Open final, Aryna Sabalenka, visibly frustrated, smashed her racket against the ground. Madison Keys had caused the upset, and Sabalenka was left at the gates of her third consecutive Grand Slam title. The disappointment of the Belarusian tennis player spread around the world through the screens. Months later, in the Roland Garros final, Sabalenka fell again, this time to Coco Gauff. The anger of the world number one was evident in her post-match speech and in the press conference, which went viral for the wrong reasons. Weeks later, at Wimbledon, Amanda Anisimova eliminated her in the semifinals in an exciting three-set match. Sabalenka left the court, and the tournament, dejected and confused. Despite having been the world number one throughout the season and having won two level 1000 titles, she failed to deliver in key moments. She took some time off from tennis, trying to reset and learn from everything that had happened. The 27-year-old tennis player arrived in New York hungry, even desperate, to redeem her year and close the Grand Slam season defending her title. On Saturday, all the hard defeats and the agony of repeated defeat she had felt throughout the season seemed worthwhile. Her coach, Jason Stacy, stated that he began reading a motivational book called “Into the Magic Shop” after Roland Garros. He called it a “fairy tale,” and in New York, Sabalenka had her own fairy tale ending. Facing Anisimova again, though this time in an Arthur Ashe Stadium with the crowd mostly in favor of the American, Sabalenka won her fourth Grand Slam title with a 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory in 94 minutes.

After clinching the title on her third match point, in an uneven tiebreak, Sabalenka watched Anisimova’s return go long. She fell to her knees and covered her head with her hands, trembling as she sobbed for nine months of tears. The crowd rose to their feet and roared under the closed roof. Sabalenka remained on the ground for several seconds before standing up and raising her arms in celebration. She became the first woman to repeat as champion since Serena Williams did so more than a decade ago, and avoided becoming the first woman to lose in three Grand Slam finals in a single season since Justine Henin in 2006. After everything she had been through, and the anguish she had endured, her relief was palpable.

“Those two finals where I completely lost control of my emotions, I simply didn’t want this to happen again,” said a radiant Sabalenka shortly after during an interview on the Alofoke Deportes broadcast. “And there were some moments when I was about to quit. But I thought, ‘Come on. You can’t do that. You just have to stay focused and keep going, keep trying.’ And it has really helped me.”

Aryna Sabalenka

There has never been any doubt about Sabalenka’s power or talent, nor about her work ethic or ambition. While she was never a junior star like many of her peers, Sabalenka achieved success in her early years as a professional and quickly rose in the rankings. In 2018, she won her first WTA title and was the WTA Newcomer of the Year. The following year, she won her first Grand Slam title at the US Open in doubles. But Sabalenka, like so many tennis players, is a perfectionist by nature. She knows how good she can be when she is at her best and has worked tirelessly to bring her game to an elite level. When she had problems with her serve in 2022, something that became so detrimental on the court that she considered retiring, she hired a biomechanics expert to help her overcome it and refine her service motion. For many years, she worried about taking too much time off, something almost impossible in the grueling WTA calendar, and was hard on herself when she returned to practice if there was any sign of rust. That dedication has led her to amazing success. Since reaching her first Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon in 2021, having focused her attention exclusively on singles at the beginning of that year despite many encouraging her to continue with both modalities, Sabalenka has been arguably the most consistent player on the circuit. After controlling her service problems the following year, she has reached the quarter-finals or better in every Grand Slam she has played and has advanced to four of the last five finals and the previous six hard court finals. She has held the number 1 position since October and has shown few signs of relinquishing it.

But with all that, a very high level of expectations has arrived, and she herself has put an even greater degree of pressure on herself. Not achieving what she knows she is capable of doing has led her to breakdowns, such as the racket clash in Melbourne, as well as her speech and comments in Paris. After her 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 defeat to Gauff in the French Open final, Sabalenka was in tears, and then blamed the gusty wind for her performance.

“The conditions were terrible, and it was just better in these conditions than me,” Sabalenka told reporters. “I think it was the worst final I’ve played.” Sabalenka was immediately labeled a bad loser, and some of her other comments about Gauff were even worse received by the public. (She later apologized, and Gauff gracefully accepted). Sabalenka and her team then focused on the challenge of how Sabalenka could find a way to win when she wasn’t playing her best game or the conditions weren’t ideal. Max Mirnyi, former world No. 1 doubles player and six-time Grand Slam doubles champion from Belarus, joined Sabalenka’s team before the hard court season, and has continued to repeat that lesson for as long as they have been together. “One of my main starting phrases when entering the team and sometimes speaking directly with Aryna is to convey the message that the perfect tennis match doesn’t exist,” Mirnyi said on Friday. “Perfection doesn’t exist on a tennis court. You can take the best matches of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer or Steffi Graf… there will always be things that don’t go as planned, and it’s the best champions who know how to respond and adapt in the moment, on the fly.”

It’s something her team has been able to contemplate and remind Sabalenka of every time she plays at Ashe, as a plaque with Billie Jean King’s phrase “Pressure is a privilege” is prominently displayed at the entrance to the court. The group also reminds him of the second, less famous, part of King’s quote: “Champions adapt.” With King in the stands on Saturday, as well as other former tennis champions, including Tracy Austin, Monica Seles, Andy Roddick, Stan Smith and Virginia Wade, Sabalenka did precisely that. After breaking serve twice in the second set and appearing headed for victory, Sabalenka struggled to close out the match. Serving at 5-4 and just two points from the trophy, Sabalenka hit what should have been an easy lob over the net and sent it into the net. She dropped her racket to the ground in apparent disbelief. Anisimova then won the next point to break serve and level the set at 5-5. Sabalenka admitted to reporters that she almost “lost it” after the missed smash, but found a way to maintain composure.

“You can’t make these kinds of mistakes at important points,” she said. “Sometimes it can be crucial, from my experience. So yes, that was the moment, but then I turned around, took a deep breath and thought: ‘Okay, it happens. It’s already in the past. Let’s focus on the next one'”.

Aryna Sabalenka

Two games later and a tiebreak ensued. But instead of faltering under the pressure, Sabalenka, who had won her previous 19 tiebreaks, took control. Although she needed three match points, and exhaled deeply before each one, the outcome hardly seemed in doubt, and the extra points were just a mere formality.

After being announced as the 2025 US Open champion, Sabalenka reached her team in her box. While many players run off the court and up the stairs, as Sabalenka has done before, she took her time, walking and high-fiving fans before embracing each member of her coaching team, as well as her agent and friends. “It’s been a tough year with those finals,” Sabalenka said moments later during the trophy presentation as she addressed her team. “I was really terrible to you, but come on. Is it worth it, right? Thank you very much. I love you. You are my family.” With thousands of fans watching during her televised interview, Sabalenka said she was going to have a few drinks at the bar on site to start her celebration because, “You have to enjoy it” after all the hard work. As she spoke, and the smile continued to radiate on her face, it became clear that as devastating as the previous defeats in the final were at the time, it made Saturday’s triumph even sweeter. And upon seeing Anisimova’s stunned face, stained with her own tears after losing in her second consecutive Grand Slam final, while on stage holding her runner-up trophy, Sabalenka couldn’t help but convey that feeling. “I know how much it hurts to lose in the finals,” Sabalenka said as she turned and looked at Anisimova. “But trust me, the moment you win the first one, and you will win it… you will enjoy it even more after all the tough defeats in the finals.”