Aryna Sabalenka had a sneaking suspicion that she didn’t want to be the player who won a major championship and then vanished.

Sabalenka felt she could win another Grand Slam title after securing her maiden in Australia a year prior. She was even more motivated after losing the U.S. Open final in September last year.

In a lopsided women’s final match on Saturday, the Belarusian Player defeated Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-2, ensuring she wasn’t a one-hit wonder. This match marked a stark contrast to her thrilling three-set victory over Elena Rybakina in the Australian Open the previous year.

The last time an athlete playing tennis triumphed in the Australian Open championship defense was over a decade ago. The last woman to achieve that feat was Aryna Sabalenka (No. 2 in the WTA ranking), who succeeded her compatriot Victoria Azarenka (ranked 22nd), in 2013.

Belarusian Player knew she had a huge task ahead of her as she started her campaign at Melbourne Park. Giving her opponents no choices in her first Grand Slam participation as the defending champion, she won all seven of her events in straight sets to win the competition twice.

After the match, a happy Sabalenka raises the Australian Open trophy and expresses her opinions.

Sabalenka expressed her desire to congratulate Zheng, acknowledging that although losing in the championship round was difficult, Zheng was still a young and exceptional player.

Sabalenka went on to say that she was positive Zheng would return. She congratulated Zheng and her group.

Sabalenka declared that the past two weeks had been incredible and that she couldn’t fathom winning the prize again.

As Zheng, 21, competed in her first major final, she sometimes gave off the impression that she was terrified by the circumstances and her opponent.

Sabalenka’s triumph in Melbourne last year was largely due to her work with a psychologist and her reworking of her service to avoid the double faults that had plagued her.

In 2022, Sabalenka’s serve was so inconsistent during stressful situations that she questioned her ability to win a major. She is now depending on it to defeat rivals. In the championship match, she avoided a breakpoint and did not serve a double fault.

She overcame No. 4-ranked Coco Gauff in the U.S. Open final by winning a straight-set match in the quarterfinals. That came after victories in straight sets over Amanda Anisimova in the 4th round and Barbora Krejcikova, the 2021 French Open champion, in the quarterfinals.

Sabalenka expressed her satisfaction with her performance in the final and during the Melbourne fortnight, saying she was relieved to demonstrate that her one Grand Slam victory was not an anomaly.

Sabalenka described Zheng as a formidable opponent and excellent player during her news conference following the match. She expressed her extreme happiness at having achieved this victory that day.

 

She went on to say that she wants to demonstrate her ability to be there regularly and her ability to win another Grand Slam.

Sabalenka Don’t Want To Be A Player Who Wins Grand Slam Only For Once

After his second Australian Open victory, Sabalenka told the media that she did not desire to be a player who achieves a Grand Slam and then vanishes from the game.

She continued by saying that she needed to demonstrate her consistency and her ability to win additional titles. Although she now only had two, she aspired to win many more.

Sabalenka declared that she had once believed she would never win a Grand Slam, particularly during the time she was making a lot of double faults and was struggling with her serve.

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