Aryna Sabalenka has seen her share of triumphs and disappointments on the Grand Slam stage. Last night in Melbourne it was disappointment again, as the world No.1 squandered a 3-0 lead in the final set and fell to Elena Rybakina 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the Australian Open women’s singles final.
A tough loss for Sabalenka, but definitely not the end of the world. When you are as consistently amazing as Sabalenka has been, particularly on the hard courts, where she has reached at least the final of the last seven Grand Slams played on the surface – and won four – you know more chances are coming.
Still, she must grapple with the fact that she’s the most dominant player in the world, and yet more beatable than she would like to be in Grand Slam finals, where she is 4-4 overall after the loss to Rybakina.
Tough moments, tough losses, they can weigh on a player. If things had gone Sabalenka’s way in a few of the four Grand Slam finals she has lost in three sets, she could be a six or seven time Grand Slam champion at this point.
Would have, could have, should have.
Water under the bridge now for Sabalenka, who feels she did her best in Saturday’s final, and fell prey to a hot stretch from one of the most lethal forces on the women’s tour.
“She played an incredible match, and I try my very best,” Sabalenka said. “I was fighting until the very last point.”
“I had my opportunities. It feels like I missed a couple, but I mean, it’s tennis. Today you’re loser; tomorrow you’re winner. Hopefully I’ll be more of a winner this season than a loser. Hoping right now and praying.”
Last year Sabalenka lost another heartbreaker in the final, to Madison Keys, when she was bidding for an Australian Open three-peat. Sabalenka feels she played better in Saturday’s final, and hopes to carry the form forward.
“Overall it was much better than last year,” she said. “Level-wise and decision that I was making and the way that the mentality was throughout the whole match that I was still there, I was ready to fight, I knew that she’s not going to give it easily to me.
“So I think overall I made huge improvement on that, and I still lost it. But it’s okay. I feel like I’m moving towards the right direction.”
It’s hard to criticize the effort, or even the result, that Sabalenka has achieved in the first Slam of 2026. Yes, she’d like to be winning more Grand Slam finals than she is losing, but if we consider how stunningly consistent she has been across all the Grand Slams – she has made the quarterfinals in each of the last 13 majors she has played – we quickly see that there is light at the end of this tunnel for Sabalenka.
She’s 70-8 at the majors overall since the start of 2023, with four titles. More, surely, are on the way.
