Perhaps no combination of tennis player and major title seemed as inevitable as Aryna Sabalenka and the US Open. She was one of the toughest players in the history of the sport, a smiling enforcer with a style so imposing that she could render her opponents almost irrelevant to the match. The outcome depended on whether Sabalenka could keep her cartoonishly powerful groundstrokes inside the lines because no one was hitting her back.
Sabalenka provided proof of her can-do attitude by winning her first majors on the hard courts of the Australian Open in 2023 and 2024 in her usual aplomb. All the while, New York delivered disappointment, most notably in the 2023 final when she collapsed and coolly mashed her racquet and threw it in the trash. But the No. 2 seed found that elusive joy on Saturday night, winning a mesmerizing final against No. 6 seed Jessica Pegula 7-5, 7-5 to claim her third major title.
Anyone who has followed the 26-year-old Belarusian’s career closely knows all the tricky aspects: the frustrated cries, the dizzying number of double faults on her serve yips, the occasional self-sabotage through shot selection, the persistent matchup problems with class leader Iga Swiatek. Sabalenka has addressed each of these issues in a timely manner, and somehow the player most synonymous with unreliable, brazen power has transformed into the most consistent player in big matches in women’s tennis. She has she has reached the semifinals or better in seven of the last eight Grand Slam tournaments she has played in. It’s the result of so many small, smart decisions, whether it’s hiring a biomechanics specialist to improve her faltering serve, incorporating more shot variety to complement the raw pace, or focusing on her fitness training to keep up with Swiatek.
Sabalenka’s semifinal against Emma Navarro on Thursday was a clear sign of her improvement. Navarro, the fast-rising No. 13 who has beaten Gauff at the last two majors, had a clever plan, executed it skillfully and still got pulverized on the scoreboard. Previous Open semifinals have been nerve-wracking affairs for Sabalenka, but this was like watching an organism higher up the food chain gleefully devour an underdog. Part of me expected to see the same dynamic in Saturday’s final, which pitted Sabalenka against Pegula, another counterpuncher with a potentially vulnerable serve. Last month in the Cincinnati Open final, Pegula’s game was not nearly good enough to knock her opponent out of shape throughout the tournament. Here in New York was another untouchable Sabalenka who had experienced a minute of danger throughout the tournament; I could already hear the crisp returns of the second serve from Sabalenka’s racket.
In reality, Pegula proved to be a far more interesting opponent than the Cincinnati final suggested. In the second week of this US Open, the 30-year-old used her tactical sense and sheer determination to beat Swiatek, recover from a setback, knock out Karolina Muchova and put an end to the eventual champion. It was a tough outing for Pegula, who complained in her box about a lack of feeling in her racquets, possibly due to the strange conditions: closed roof, strong storm, high humidity. Despite these difficulties, trailing 0-3 in the second set, she suddenly won five games in a row. Pegula improved her serve, found ways to redirect Sabalenka’s pace and threatened to level the match with a set loss.
Only then did Sabalenka pull off a four-game run capped by some stunning winners and secure the title. While she deserves credit for the good volleys and short slices she incorporated, she won this match with her usual free-swinging shots. A statistic that made the rounds earlier in the tournament showed that Sabalenka had the highest average topspin forehand speed, higher than that of top male players Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, and that kind of power returned at the end of the second set.
“That’s the only way it works for me, because every time I try to play safer, I have to be aware of those key moments, every time I stop my arms and the ball flies into the stands,” Sabalenka told the press afterward. “So I decided a long time ago that I just have to go ahead and hit in those important moments.”
Although Sabalenka holds two major titles this year, Swiatek is still ahead of her in the rankings, which is a testament to how consistent the world No. 1 has been every week on tour.. But Sabalenka has now emerged as the player to beat at the biggest tournaments. Although Swiatek has the edge 8-4 in head-to-head matches, every meeting between the two is an event in itself; the final in Madrid was one of the best matches of the season. Sabalenka’s US Open title underscores what has become clear this summer: These are by far the two best players in the WTA, and their rivalry could well define the current era.
