Sabalenka

The hard-hitting Belarusian collapsed to the court in tears after winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 against the Wimbledon champion in a high-quality 2hr 28min ...

The hard-hitting Belarusian collapsed to the court in tears after winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 against the Wimbledon champion in a high-quality 2hr 28min arm-wrestle on Rod Laver Arena.

An emotional Aryna Sabalenka was speechless after beating Elena Rybakina in the Australian Open final on Saturday to win her first Grand Slam title.

We've been through a lot of, I would say, downs last year," Sabalenka said, addressing her team after receiving the trophy. I love you guys." "They were really tough matches and I just couldn't understand until right now that I really needed that to understand what I have to change," Sabalenka added. Rybakina cruised through the first set in 34 minutes but Sabalenka scrapped her way back in a 57-minute second set to take it to a nervy decider. "I was just super happy that I was able to handle all the emotions in the last game, it was super tough for me," added Sabalenka, who had reached three Grand Slam semi-finals before this year but never gone farther. Melbourne — An emotional Aryna Sabalenka said it will take a "few more days" to sink in after battling back from a set down to win a maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open on Saturday.

With daring, resolve and a thunderous forehand, Aryna Sabalenka rose above geopolitical tumult to become the first player to claim a Grand Slam title as a.

I live there right now,” she said. It’s just about the hard work I’ve done.” “But I mean, I played the U.S. It’s not about Wimbledon right now. The Belarus tennis federation was quick to extend congratulations to the country’s second tennis player to win a Grand Slam, following on from twice Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, who was knocked out in the semi-finals. [Russian and Belarusian flags](https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/russian-flags-banned-australian-open-tennis-after-ukraine-complaint-2023-01-17/) to Melbourne Park on the second day of the tournament after a complaint from the Ukraine embassy in Australia.

The newly-minted champion struggled to pick her favorite memory in the wake of winning her first Grand Slam title in Melbourne.

What was the best day of your life before now?_ You said this is the best day of your life. What’s in a best day ever?

Aryna Sabalenka lies on the court during the women's final round match at the 2023 Australian. After winning the final match, against Elena Rybakina, with fifty ...

Her march to the Australian Open final had been important—a confirmation that Rybakina was one of the best players in the world, that her Wimbledon win was not a fluke. Sabalenka hit a thunderous overhead from a tricky position, the middle of the court, to take the break. She won the match on her third championship point, finishing with fifty-one winners to twenty-eight unforced errors, an astonishing ratio. She had to learn, she said, to fix her own problems on the court. She finished the year with more than four hundred double faults, more than a hundred more than the player with the second most. Rybakina came into the match as the twenty-second seed (and with the early outer-court assignments to match it). Her backhand seems chiselled to the essential motion and polished to smoothness, the way a sculpture can suggest the flow of water. And when the second set of the final began, and the pressure rose, she seemed to embrace it, and started to apply it herself. She had discovered, last year, that the problem was in her mind—but not only in the way one would imagine for a player with the yips. In the third game of the match, after firing an ace to go up 40–0, she watched her lead slip away, gifting a break point to Elena Rybakina with a double fault, and then losing the game with a loose forehand. She has a tiger’s face tattooed on her forearm, and a big cat’s rippling musculature. After Sabalenka scratched the break back to level the set at 4–4, Rybakina coolly got another, to go up 5–4, and then served out the set at love.

The Belarusian, who beat Elena Rybakina to win her first Grand Slam title on Saturday, held the trophy in triumph while the war in Ukraine remained a brutal ...

However you present her on the scoreboard, it was a Belarus victory. “Missing the Wimbledon was really tough for me,” she said. Her performance on Saturday was incontrovertible proof that they had succeeded, with the help of a biomechanical expert but also Sabalenka’s own resilience. Born and raised in Russia, she switched allegiance to Kazakhstan in exchange for financial support in 2018. Rybakina overpowered Swiatek in the fourth round in Melbourne on her way to the final. “And all that really starts from the people I was surrounded with. 2, behind Iga Swiatek, who still has a large lead based on her terrific 2022 season but who has lost to Sabalenka and Rybakina in the last two significant tournaments. It was tennis reminiscent of the big-serving, high-velocity duels between Serena and Venus Williams. But for the most part, it was strength versus strength; straight-line power against straight-line power. “I would like to have a quieter life,” she said after the mixed doubles final. Swiatek, the Polish star who looked set to become a dominant No. Anything less would not have sufficed against Elena Rybakina in their gripping, corner-to-corner final that might have been better suited to a ring as the two six-footers exchanged big blows for two hours and 28 minutes.

The hard-hitting Belarusian collapsed to the court in tears after winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 against Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in a high-quality 2hr 28min ...

"I now know what else I have to work on and I'm just super happy right now to break through this wall." I love you guys." We've been through a lot of, I would say, downs last year," Sabalenka said, addressing her team after receiving the trophy. "They were really tough matches and I just couldn't understand until right now that I really needed that to understand what I have to change," Sabalenka added. "I was just super happy that I was able to handle all the emotions in the last game, it was super tough for me," added Sabalenka, who had reached three Grand Slam semi-finals before this year but never gone farther. Rybakina cruised through the first set in 34 minutes but Sabalenka scrapped her way back in a 57-minute second set to take it to a nervy decider.

Elena Rybakina said she struggled with the pressure and aggression from Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday's Australian Open final in Melbourne.

"But, I mean, for sure it's going to be different in the smaller tournaments. "I would say the most challenging for me now is to play against Aryna again and get a win. It's also pressure in the end, as soon as I have an opportunity, take it.

In a blazing final, Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina matched each other ace for ace and winner for winner, until the No. 5 seed found another gear, ...

“I just changed how I feel. When this tournament began, one player, Iga Swiatek, was in a stratosphere of her own. The quality of the match was reflected in the statistics. The nerves returned, of course—she double faulted on her first match point, and made ground-stroke errors on two others. “I was just nervous in the first set,” Sabalenka said. “I was rushing a lot. Sabalenka was playing her first Grand Slam final, but she already knew exactly how hard it is to win one of these tournaments. “Nobody tells you it’s going to be easy,” Aryna Sabalenka kept saying to herself on Saturday night in Rod Laver Arena. 5 seed found another gear, and her first Grand Slam title. 1 in Australia, and No. Sabalenka is a compelling battle for No. Australian Open

From 'alarming' sight to Aus Open champ: How star banished demons in 'comeback of century'

I realised that nobody other than me will help,” she explained to reporters this week. I’m still screaming ‘C’mon!’ and all that stuff, just less negative emotions.” Sabalenka faced break points in all of her service games against Vekic, saving a remarkable 12 of the 14 she faced, more proof of the huge difference from a year ago. The combination means she can now get herself out of a crisis, as she did when losing the first set of the final and in digging herself out of a hole in her semi-final against Magda Linette. But the shaky serve that has haunted her so badly in the past was rock-solid on her run to a maiden Grand Slam crown. She was reduced to tears on court at a tournament in the lead-up to last year’s Australian Open.

Aryna Sabalenka said the tough moments she's experienced in her career made winning her first Grand Slam title even more enjoyable.

Every time I had a tough moment on court, I was just reminding myself that I’m good enough to handle all this just everything.” Sabalenka will rise to No 2 in the world on Monday, equalling her career high. I started to understand that actually I’m here because I work so hard and I’m actually good player. “The last game, yeah, of course I was a little bit nervous. That was a tough game. “I really feel right now that I really needed those tough losses to kind of understand myself a little bit better. I was keep telling myself like, nobody tells you that it’s going to be easy, you just have to work for it, work for it till the last point. It was never going to be easy. I fought so hard to win this one. I really enjoyed this battle. But something changed inside her and over the past fortnight, she played almost flawless tennis to take the title. It was like a preparation for me.”

And so, as she wasted a second match point by flubbing a forehand, and a third by again missing another, Sabalenka did her best to stay calm, something she used ...

“I really feel right now that I really needed those tough losses to kind of understand myself a little bit better. “I actually feel happy that I lost those matches, so right now I can be a different player and just a different Aryna, you know?” Capable of delivering aces, she also had a well-known problem with double-faulting, leading the tour in that category last year with nearly 400, including matches with more than 20. After much prodding from her group, she agreed to undergo an overhaul of her mechanics last August. At the end, when it mattered more than ever, Sabalenka was able to steady herself. I (kept) telling myself, like, ’Nobody tells you that it’s going to be easy.' You just have to work for it, work for it, ’til the last point,” said Sabalenka, a 24-year-old from Belarus who is now 11-0 with two titles in 2023 and will rise to No. “We’ve been through a lot of, I would say, downs last year,” said Sabalenka, who was appearing in her first major final and had been 0-3 in Slam semifinals until this week. “She was strong mentally, physically.” She yelled and turned her back to the court. [Elena Rybakina](https://apnews.com/article/wimbledon-sports-moscow-kazakhstan-venus-williams-eeec79c03f00550d3476baa22e2e273e) presented itself — and this time, Sabalenka saw a forehand from her similarly powerful foe sail long. She hung in there until a fourth chance to close out She wiggled her shoulders and exhaled.

The 24-year-old dazzled as she showed off her new silverware after her come-from-behind win at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night - and revealed it wouldn't ...

I started to understand that actually I'm here because I work so hard and I'm actually good player. It was a long journey for us. I think you need to find someone else who's going to help you". 'But I knew that it's not about him. It's just something about me. He just said like, "I don't know what to do.

Aryna Sabalenka wept tears of relief and joy after breaking through for her elusive maiden grand slam title over Elena Rybakina - but a tiny detail has been ...

'I lost three grand slam semi-finals and it was a really tough time. However, as the cameras zoomed in on the trophy it was revealed that Sabalenka's country of origin was not engraved like it had been for the champions before her It's all the stars. 'It was super emotional, I was super happy that I was able to handle all of the emotions in the last game.' However, as the cameras zoomed in on the trophy it was revealed that Sabalenka's country of origin was not engraved on the award like it had been for all the champions before her. All those names,' she exclaimed.

New Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka didn't get much sleep Saturday night after a rambunctious come-from-behind victory, but you wouldn't have known ...

"I like to pose. "It was a funny night, everyone was just too happy, so some of us didn't make it today, it was too much last night," Sabalenka laughed. "I'm always thinking about the match about some points and especially the last game," said Sabalenka about what was her maiden Grand Slam final.

New Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka didn't get much sleep Saturday night after a rambunctious come-from-behind victory, but you wouldn't have known ...

"I like to pose. "It was a funny night, everyone was just too happy, so some of us didn't make it today, it was too much last night," Sabalenka laughed. [Order of Play ](https://supersport.com/tennis/content/6fe8954d-93e9-4026-a196-ffa55f142c25/aus-open-23-order-of-play) "But it's just too crazy, there's so many thoughts in my head and I'm just trying to relax for a second." "I'm always thinking about the match about some points and especially the last game," said Sabalenka about what was her maiden Grand Slam final. Now Sabalenka is enjoying the feeling of becoming a Grand Slam champion at the age of 24 -- and finally conquering her inner demons.

The powerful Belarusian, who will become world No. 2 on Monday, showed a new side to her personality, posing effortlessly in front of the cameras.

Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka took the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup on gondola tour through Melbourne's botanical gardens the morning after her ...

Just me and my trophy!" The newly-crowned major-winner, who'll return to No. Cloud 9 look an awful lot like Melbourne, Australia for Aryna Sabalenka on Sunday.

The women's champion donned a lilac look by an Australian luxury fashion label, as she took her new trophy on a gondola ride at the botanical gardens in ...

“I like to pose, especially when you’re a Grand Slam champion,” she laughed. She matched the capped-sleeve blouse and skirt featuring delicate floral appliques with a pair of royal blue [Manolo Blahnik Hangisi](https://www.manoloblahnik.com/us/hangisi-16027.html) pumps. Social

This week's "Hot Shots" is a collection of some of the best congratulatory messages sent the way of 2023 Australian Open singles champions Novak Djokovic ...