Australian Open 2023 – Conclusion
The Australian Open 2023 women’s singles final featured a battle between Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina. Sabalenka overcame early serving struggles to defeat Rybakina in three sets, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and capture her first career Grand Slam title. Despite dropping the first set, she regrouped in the second set by unleashing vicious groundstrokes with heavy topspin.
Rybakina defended valiantly, but Sabalenka persevered through intense service games to ultimately prevail. She collapsed to the court in emotional celebration after a dramatic, high-quality conclusion to the Australian Open between two big hitters at the peak of their games. This thrilling three-set matchup highlighted towering serves, blistering winners and captivating shot-makin
Sabalenka Defeats Rybakina to Claim First Grand Slam Title
The women’s final took place on January 28. Sabalenka became the Australian Open champion. Defeating Rybakina in an epic three-set match on Rod Laver Arena with a score of 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Aryna Sabalenka became the first neutral Grand Slam champion when she lifted the Daphne Akhurst Trophy in Melbourne. As a Belarusian, she was not allowed a flag by her name, nor any other mention of her nationality.
And yet, as she pointed out guilelessly in her post-match press conference, ”everyone still knows that I’m a Belarusian player.” So much for tennis’s feeble attempt to mask the realities of the Ukrainian invasion.
But still, while the political dimension of this final must be acknowledged, we should also commend it as a magnificent sporting spectacle. As predicted by everyone in Melbourne before the match, it was a contest of short points.
Sabalenka and her opponent – the reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina – possess the two biggest serves in the women’s game, and they are no less powerful in their groundstrokes. The match, therefore, delivered an average rally length of just over three shots.
But what shots they were!
Sabalenca, in particular, had the fans gasping with her bewitching ability to play at full throttle while still applying enough topspin to keep the ball in court.
The fans also smiled at her girlish giggle, which punctuated every single sentence during her charming acceptance speech. ”You deserve this trophy more than me.” Aryna Sabalenka salutes her team after winning the AO title.
Sabalenka Overcomes Early Struggles in Australian Open 2023 Women’s Final
Sabalenka faced a tough challenge after losing the first set. The setback was caused by two poorly timed double faults in the ninth game. We were concerned that she might be reverting to her bad habits from her 2022 Australian campaign, where she struggled with nerves.
Then, she served 96 double faults in 6 matches and even resorted to serving underarm.
A question mark around Sabalenka has been her mental stability in tight moments, but this match showed how much she has matured from the emotional character who used to spontaneously combust under pressure.
The first set of this final was the first she has dropped all season, in her 11th match. She then left the court for a bathroom break and came back with a new steeliness in her eye. Her enormous, broad-shouldered hitting now took on a new dimension.
Professional tennis involves a constant trade-off between speed through the air and top-spin to bring the ball down into court. Most women – including Rybakina – prefer to expend most of their energy on the former, which means that they have to aim very low over the net-tape.
But Sabalenka is such a beast of an athlete that she can apply both types of force to the ball at once. Crucially, this gives her greater margin for error. Her statistics were astonishing:- 51 winners to just 28 unforced errors. And yet, coming down the home straight, she still wasn’t guaranteed a victory.
Thrilling Deciding Set Goes Down to the Wire
Rybakina defended her 121 mph serve impressively, saving 10 of 13 break points. Sabalenka, a 24-year-old with three previous major semi-final losses, faced challenging moments.
Rybakina served for her first Grand Slam title at 5-4 in the decider. She double-faulted on her first match point, adding to her seven double faults in the evening.
Two more match points came and went in a nine-minute concluding game. But then, finally, Rybakina sent a forehand long. Her groundstrokes have both elegance and purity, but their flat trajectory is just that little bit less robust than Sabalenka’s dive-bombing style.
As Rybakina put it afterwards, ”Her ball is coming very heavy (with top-spin). Yeah, there is maybe few girls who plays like this.”
Emotional Sabalenka Sheds Tears of Joy
Sabalenka lay on the ground in the approved celebration that seems to be common to all Grand Slam champions these days.
What was unusual was the extent to which her emotions came pouring out, as she lay and sobbed for a good 20 seconds, her stomach heaving with emotion. Only then did she finally drag herself to her feet for a warm embrace with Rybakina.
Praise for the High-Quality Australian Open 2023 Women’s Final
The crowd expressed their joy – and rightly so, for this was arguably the best Grand Slam final since Caroline Wozniacki had finally landed her own first major here five years ago.
”Is the best day of my life right now,” said Sabalenka afterwards. ”She played unbelievable tennis. I’m really happy that it wasn’t easy match. I really enjoyed this battle.” So did everyone else.
