Aryna Sabalenka closed off the greatest season of her career last year as the second-best player in the world, yet it was difficult to assess her progress. On one hand, she had achieved so much, winning her first grand slam title, providing Iga Swiatek with a true rival and performing so consistently throughout the season. But she could have done so much more.
After triumphing at the Australian Open, Sabalenka made deep runs at each of the remaining grand slam tournaments, with two further semi-finals and a final. In each of her eventual defeats, she led before crumbling under pressure. It ended as a great year, but it really could have been one of the best seasons of the past decade.
Throughout this period, though, Sabalenka’s resilience has been striking. Instead of allowing her failures to derail her last year, she bounced back quickly each time and she learned the correct lessons from them. Her relentless dominance at the Australian Open this year would not have taken place without the difficulties she faced beforehand.
“It’s all come with experience,” Sabalenka said. “There is not going to be big wins without really tough losses. Of course I was very down after those matches. I was crying, I was smashing the racquet, as we see. I was really crazy. But then, like, later on after a day or two, we sit down with the team, thinking: ‘OK, what we have to do to fix it and to make sure this will never happen again.’”
Having worked through those difficulties and emerged as a two-time grand slam title winner, the 25-year-old has given herself the chance to truly establish herself as one of the best players of her generation. So far, Sabalenka’s biggest successes have come on hard courts – 12 of her 14 titles have come on the surface – but one of her most exciting qualities is her ability to perform at the highest level on all surfaces. Last year Sabalenka won the Madrid Open on clay before she stood a point away from the French Open final in her defeat against Karolina Muchova. At Wimbledon, she has reached the semi-finals in consecutive appearances.
She now has the game, the mentality and the ability to continue adding to her grand slam title haul, and to do so on all surfaces. That does not mean she will have everything her way. Just as Swiatek’s dominant season in 2022 was inspiring to Sabalenka, the Australian Open champion’s start to the season should be a source of great motivation for Swiatek. It would be extremely disappointing if the pair do not duel for some of the biggest titles this year.
Half an hour before the final on Saturday, Sabalenka was pictured signing her autograph on the bald head of her fitness coach, Jason Stacy, as she has done throughout the tournament. As silly as the spectacle was, it offered great insight to how she and her team have managed to succeed.
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On the court she may be fierce and ruthless, but Sabalenka’s success underlines the importance of also finding enjoyment in her work, even under intense grand slam pressure. The positive, healthy environment she has built with her team, headed by her coach Anton Dubrov, starkly contrasts with how some other players interact with their teams and it should help to keep her on track as her evolution continues.
