Massive Dangers and Massive Rewards for Aryna Sabalenka on the Australian Open

It was tennis paying homage to the big-serving, high-velocity duels between Serena and Venus Williams. It was additionally a major departure from final 12 months’s Australian Open, the place Ashleigh Barty ended a 44-year singles drought for the host nation by successful the title, placing her courtroom craft and crisply sliced one-handed backhand to work earlier than surprising the tennis world (and Australia) by retiring in March at age 25.

However Barty, now married to Garry Kissick and anticipating their first baby, has hardly averted the Australian Open, making quite a few public appearances this 12 months and strolling onto Rod Laver Area earlier than Saturday’s last with the Akhurst Memorial Cup in hand.

“I can truthfully look myself within the mirror and say I gave all the things to tennis, but it surely gave me again a lot extra in return,” she stated in a current interview. “And all that actually begins from the folks I used to be surrounded with. A lot of my success is our success. It genuinely is.”

Sabalenka might relate to that on Saturday as she shared a post-victory second along with her group after which watched from afar as her usually stoic coach, Anton Dubrov, put a white towel to his face and sobbed within the participant field.

Sabalenka stated she had by no means seen Dubrov cry and defined that final season, in February, as she struggled with the yips on her second serve and her confidence and reached a degree the place she couldn’t even brazenly talk about the issue, Dubrov supplied his resignation.

“There have been moments final 12 months when he stated, ‘I feel I’m completed, and I feel I can’t provide you with one thing else, and you need to discover another person,’” Sabalenka stated in an interview with 9 Community. “And I stated: ‘No, you’re not proper. It’s not about you. We simply should work by way of these robust moments, and we’ll come again stronger.’”

Her efficiency on Saturday was incontrovertible proof that they’d succeeded, with the assistance of a biomechanical knowledgeable but additionally Sabalenka’s personal resilience. She is 11-0 this 12 months and although she double-faulted seven occasions within the last, together with on her first match level, she additionally repeatedly shrugged off any jitters (and the palpable concern of the massive crowd) and got here up with aces or service winners on subsequent serves.