After previous heartache in New York, Aryna Sabalenka has finally got her hands on the US Open trophy.
The Belarusian was reduced to tears following her loss to Coco Gauff in last year’s final after winning the opening set comfortably.
In 2022, she let a 4-2 lead slip in the deciding set of her semi-final against Iga Swiatek, while she fell to a shock defeat by Leylah Fernandez at the same stage a year earlier.
But the 26-year-old said she was “the happiest person in the world” after beating American Jessica Pegula 7-5 7-5 in the final to finally triumph at Flushing Meadows.
“I’m speechless. I remember all the tough losses here,” Sabalenka said.
“They say you’re going to see the reason later. I see the reason right now.
“That’s why it’s very special, because no matter what, every time I was coming back stronger and I was learning. I never gave up on this dream.”​​​​​​​
Sabalenka ‘living her best life’
Image source: Getty Images
Image caption: Sabalenka jokingly patted the replica of her tiger tattoo on her fitness trainer Jason Stacy’s head
Before this year’s US Open, Sabalenka said she was trying to find “things which bring joy” after a tough year.
In March, her former boyfriend Konstantin Koltsov died in what Sabalenka called “an unthinkable tragedy”.
She later said, with hindsight, she should have taken a break from playing. She went on to struggle with a stomach problem in her French Open quarter-final defeat in June, before withdrawing from Wimbledon a few weeks later with a shoulder injury.
The injury-enforced break allowed her to refresh and, in New York, she has shown a fun and relaxed approach with her team off the court.
When she successfully defended her Australian Open title in January, she made it a tradition to write her signature on her fitness trainer Jason Stacy’s head.
Instead of her signature, Stacy stuck Sabalenka’s iconic tiger tattoo on the top of his head for the final against Pegula.
The second seed was seen poking fun at Stacy’s head in her celebrations, while she joked during her post-match news conference that he should have placed the image in the middle of his forehead.
“She is living her best life,” former British number one Laura Robson told Sky Sports.
“You just have to look at the environment she has around her. She has her physio tattooing a lion on his head and you see them all laughing and joking.
“It translates into her game on the court because everything is going to plan off the court.”
Behind her cheerful approach, however, is a bigger motivation for Sabalenka to keep pursuing Grand Slam success.
She has spoken about the impact of losing her father, Sergey, who died in 2019, and says it is her goal to “put our family name in the history of tennis”.
“Every time I see my name on that trophy, I’m so proud of myself, I’m proud of my family that they never gave up on my dream,” she said.
“They were doing everything they could to keep me going.”
‘The best hard court player in the world’
A three-time Grand Slam champion on hard courts, Sabalenka has lost just one of her past 28 major matches on the surface.
Sabalenka has quickly returned to the top of her game during the summer hard-court swing – winning the title in Cincinnati last month before succeeding at Flushing Meadows.
Former world number one and 18-time major singles winner Martina Navratilova has described her as the “best hard-court player in the world”.
Sabalenka can now challenge world number one Iga Swiatek – the ‘Queen of Clay’ after winning a third straight French Open title in June – for the year-end world number one ranking.
“It’s so much more interesting now with the way that Sabalenka is playing because before it felt like Swiatek was just a level above everyone around her,” former British number one Annabel Croft said on BBC 5 Live.
“It feels like Sabalenka has got that inner confidence and belief. She has added more to her game and become very interesting.
“She really is going to challenge Swiatek for that world number one [ranking].”