Aryna Sabalenka is already one step away from defending last year’s title at the Australian Open. As in 2023, the Belarusian reached the final with a lot of confidence, without losing a single game along the way and with only one tiebreaker, both times in the first set of the semifinal match. Then, at this stage, Arina faced Magda Linette, and this time her opponent was much more serious – Cori Gauff, who defeated Sabalenka in the final of the US Open-2023. But the American also managed to break the resistance in two sets. , and in all previous rounds Sabalenka took charge without problems. Recall that a year ago in the final, the Belarusian defeated Elena Rybakina, playing for Kazakhstan, in three sets, losing the first game.
“Emotionally I will be ready to fight, not to be scared”
Arina herself, by the way, prepares herself psychologically so as not to become obsessed with defending the championship. “Of course it is difficult, but in the worst case you lose and next year there will be nothing to defend (smiles). I won’t say I’m ignoring the pressure, I’m just changing my approach and so far it’s working. There’s one more game left and I’ll do my best. Emotionally, I will be willing to fight, not be scared. When it’s your first final, you have a lot of emotions, you can rush too much. And when the third one comes, you think: okay, this is the end, this is normal. Just another match. You abstract yourself from the rest and concentrate only on your game, that’s all.
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Yes, I’m pretty calm. I am the current champion and the worst that can happen is that I lose the match, then next year I will have to defend fewer points. That’s all. This helps me stay focused and try to play the best I can in each match without thinking about defending anything,” Sabalenka said at a press conference.
Sabalenka seeks to repeat Azarenka’s achievement
Note that Arina can become the fourth tennis player to win the Australian Open twice in a row in the 21st century. Previously, this was achieved by Jennifer Capriati (2001, 2002), Serena Williams (2009, 2010) and Victoria Azarenka (2012, 2013); Therefore, after 11 years, Sabalenka has the opportunity to repeat the achievement of her famous compatriot. If we take several finals in a row, that result in the current century was also achieved by Martina Hingis (2000-2002, without title), Maria Sharapova (2007-2008, victory in 2008), Li Na (2013-2014). , title in 2014) and again with Serena (2015-2017, victory in 2016).
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In general, Sabalenka is now demonstrating amazing stability at the Slams, which not even the world’s first racket player, the Polish Iga Swiatek, has. Arina has already reached at least the semi-finals six times in a row, starting this series with the US Open 2022, where she lost in this phase to Swiatek. Then there was the title in Australia, the semi-final in Paris with a dramatic loss to Karolina Muchova, the Wimbledon semi-final with a three-set loss to Ons Jabeur, the final in New York with a loss to Cori Gauff (also in three sets). and now at least the final of the Australian Open – 2024. Potentially, the series could have been a longer major, but Sabalenka, like all players from Belarus and Russia, was not allowed to attend Wimbledon 2022. Before that, she lost to Camila Giorgi in the third round of Roland Garros 2022.
Qinwen’s brilliant debut at Roland Garros
If Arina has been on tour for a long time and has been performing at the highest level for several years (she became the world’s second racket in 2021), then Zheng Qingwen, who is more than four years younger than her, is simply arriving. to the top. According to the results of this Australian Open, Qingwen, 21, will debut in the top 10, in sixth or seventh place, depending on the result of the final. By the way, Sabalenka now, in any case, will not regain the title of the first racket in the world, since here he cannot score a single point due to the defense of the title, and Swiatek has a decent advantage.
The Chinese played the Grand Slam tournament for the first time in 2022, and it was precisely the Australian Open. Her best major that year was Roland Garros, where Zheng reached the round of 16 and took the first set in the tiebreaker against Swiatek, but then won only two games. Qinwen attributed her failure in the second and third games to menstrual cramps, but incidentally, she became the only tennis player in the tournament to win a set against Iga. Qingwen finished the season ranked 25th in the world, allowing her to be seeded in major competitions, including Slams.
Fissette’s departure to Osaka and his return to the former coach
After Roland Garros 2023, where the Chinese was eliminated in the second round, she broke up with the Spanish Pere Riba (former top 100 tennis player) who trained her and began working with Wim Fissette – the Belgian was released due to a pause in his career. the career of Naomi Osaka, who went on maternity leave An experienced coach helped her reach the quarterfinals of the US Open, where Zheng was stopped by Aryna Sabalenka (6-1, 6-4). So far, this is the girls’ only face-to-face meeting on the tour, so nothing can really be said about her personal encounters. By the way, there is not much to say about her cooperation with Fissette either, since shortly after the US Open Wim broke his contract and returned to Osaka. “He broke the contract, it is immoral. He made this decision, I accept it. Even though he hurt me and my family. “I don’t want to talk about this person anymore,” Qingwen then said.
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As a result, Zheng returned to working with Pere Riba in the offseason. It should be noted that the Spaniard did not sit idly after leaving her, but rather she joined Cori Gauff’s coaching staff and helped the American win the title in her local major. However, apparently, for some reason they did not work out well, as Riba left Gauff’s team, explaining this by the impossibility of traveling with her a lot due to family reasons. She often uses such delicate language to hide the real reason for the breakdown of the employment relationship. Of course, it also happens that the coach really can’t travel, but when a few months later he returns to Qingwen and calmly flies with her to Australia, this seems like a somewhat far-fetched argument.
By the way, Pere himself thus reached the final of two Slams in a row on hard courts as a coach, although this does not happen in tennis, unlike team sports. It should be noted that Zheng in Australia was somewhat lucky with the ranking, as she did not meet any seeded opponent, and the highest rating was obtained by Katie Boulter (55), with whom the Chinese played in the second round. Recall that in the quarterfinals Qinwen defeated the Russian Anna Kalinskaya in three sets, and in the semifinals she eliminated the Ukrainian Dayana Yastremskaya, who started the tournament from the qualification. Now she will have to play with another tennis player from the country of the former USSR. Let’s see if Pere Riba’s experience helps here, in which Cori Gauff defeated Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open title match. In any case, the Chinese, who plays with an offensive, sometimes even daring, style, has something to oppose Sabalenka on the court to at least make the final spectacular.
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The match between Sabalenka and Qinwen will take place on Saturday, January 27. Starts at 11:30 Moscow time. Follow this and other matches from the 2024 Australian Open for the “Championship”.
