![]() ![]() Last March, the Ukrainian brought the power of her people to court in the Lone Star State.Īn emotional Kostyuk conquered Varvara Gracheva 6-3, 7-5 in the inaugural Austin final to claim her maiden WTA title, which she dedicated to fellow Ukrainians. The 21-year-old Kostyuk is never alone on court-she’s competing for a cause. ![]() Singles isn’t a solo venture for Marta Kostyuk. And this, I think, is the beauty of it," Marta Kostyuk says. ![]() On Monday, she will rise to No 10 in the rankings from her current position of 25th, breaking the top 10 for the first time in her career at last."It's really difficult to predict anything ever in tennis. She played sublime tennis throughout the fortnight and, most importantly, she swiftly backed up her Wimbledon title. Alongside the absurd statistic of 51 winners to just 28 errors in a major final, she served 17 aces.Īlthough she was outplayed at the close, Rybakina herself produced some of the best weeks of her career. On Saturday, she relied heavily on her serve to hold on in the tight final games. I start to respect myself more,” she said.Īll of those decisions have paid off in full. I don’t have a grand slam.’ I just changed how I feel. “I always had this weird feeling that when people would come to me and ask for signature: ‘Why are you asking for signature? I’m nobody. Most importantly, she learned to respect her own talent. As her serve struggles continued throughout the season, she enlisted the help of a biomechanics expert during the summer and watched countless videos in order to improve. She hired a psychologist, who helped her manage her emotions, before recently deciding to hold herself accountable. skip past newsletter promotionīut Sabalenka never stopped trying to improve. By February, her coach, Anton Dubrov, thought she should find a replacement. In Melbourne, she hit 56 double faults across her four matches. She spent her time in Adelaide throwing in underarm serves because she simply could not serve. Last year, Sabalenka arrived in Australia in one of the most difficult periods of her career. “I actually feel happy that I lost those matches, so right now I can be a different player and just different Aryna, you know?” she said. Sabalenka describes those trials as blessings in disguise. Most recently, she led Iga Swiatek 4-1 in last year’s US Open semi-final before losing. When she finally broke through, Sabalenka suffered three bruising semi-final losses. As recently as two years ago, she was ranked fourth in the world but she had never passed the fourth round of a grand slam tournament. Her victory is a validation of the perseverance and toil it has taken to improve both her mentality and game. “I kept telling myself: ‘Nobody tells you that it’s going to be easy, you just have to work for it, work for it till the last point.’” she said.Įlena Rybakina took the first set before Aryna Sabalenka took control. On her fourth match point, Sabalenka forced a final forehand error from Rybakina, and collapsed to the ground as a grand slam champion at last. She finally sealed the decisive break at 3-3 in the final set before seeing out two painfully tense service games. Both swung freely, blazing winners from all parts of the court, but with her superior baseline game Sabalenka dominated rallies over four shots. As she began to read the Kazakhstani’s serve and punish her second serve, Sabalenka broke serve for a 3-1 lead and held on through numerous tough games to force a final set.Īs the pressure rose, the level increased accordingly. With her considerably heavier ball – her ability to combine pace and spin, unlike Rybakina’s flatter ball – alongside her greater athleticism, Sabalenka knew that she had the edge over Rybakina in any neutral rally. But even after falling down a set, Sabalenka refused to betray any negative emotion. After Sabalenka opened the match with two aces to hold, Rybakina responded with three.ĭuring the opening stages, Rybakina’s experience from Wimbledon propelled her forward as the 23-year-old took the first set. Neither player shied away from the pressure of such a significant moment and they produced exquisite shotmaking from the beginning. In a match between two of tennis’s biggest servers and shot-makers, the fundamental objective was clear for both – attack. Sabalenka remains unbeaten in 2023, winning her first 11 matches of the season with two titles to her name. With her first major title, the fifth seed will return to No 2 in the world rankings, equaling her career-high ranking. Asked if not having the flag associated with her name takes away from her victory, Sabalenka shrugged: “I think everyone still knows that I’m Belarusian player. Sabalenka, who hails from Belarus, is the first neutral athlete to win a singles grand slam tournament since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. ![]()
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