INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Twelve months ago, Aryna Sabalenka softened the disappointment of a second consecutive defeat in the BNP Paribas Open ending with humor. The runner-up’s trophy is a miniature replica of the winner’s – an opulent Baccarat crystal sculpture, so heavy that it requires a mighty heave from any favored champion to lift it.
Sabalenka joked that if she stacked her two runner-up trophies, maybe she could convince herself she had won the real one.
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It was a good line from someone who appreciates bling, as evidenced by the luxury engagement ring she showed off before her first-round match last week. But the runner-up trophies Sabalenka has won throughout her career represent a pain so visceral that when she arrives at the gates of a championship, she talks about wanting to avoid the pain of loss more than her desire to win.
For a player with a game as devastating as Sabalenka’s, a 22-20 record in the finals – many of which were lost in agonizing fashion – seems far more dire than it actually is.
But in defeating Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) on Sunday to win her first title at Indian Wells in a matchbox puzzle, Sabalenka has taken a step forward toward consistently capturing the big moments that she creates more often than any of her peers.
“I said before I went to this final, I was so tired of losing these big finals,” Sabalenka said during her press conference.
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“The players were playing incredible tennis, but I still managed to fight and take my chance, and I didn’t use it that many times.
“So in this final… I was just trying to find something, to find a way to get this win for myself, to feel more confident going into the next final.”
Sunday’s victory reinforced Sabalenka’s mental and physical strength in a match played in 95-degree heat, less than a year after her implosion in the Roland-Garros final against Coco Gauffbefore attributing her defeat to the American to rainy and windy conditions and her own poor play.
Sabalenka’s deceptively controlled aggression, into which she seems to devote her entire being, means that she can never be credibly given the nickname “ball basher.” But in Indian Wells, she showed how much she has diversified her game by mixing instinctive play at the net and adding penalty kicks to her arsenal.
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She beat the old guard of hard court tennis, Naomi Osaka, with few complications and plenty of variety in the fourth round. She beat a newcomer, Victoria Mboko, in the quarter-finals. She pushed Linda Nosková, a steady youngster to the brink of the top 10, into the semifinals.
None of them demanded as much of her as Rybakina, who entered Sunday’s match having won her previous 12 fights against top-10 players.
After losing a quick first set, Sabalenka delved into backup plans without losing her composure or second-guessing herself. She showed nuance in her game, not by showing Rybakina a wide range of shots, but by focusing on the variations available to her on serve. When the sun was at her back, she slowed her serve and produced return errors from a flashing Rybakina. She nailed short, sharp angles on command. And when she needed to, she could always dish out her original recipe and beat a 111 mph ace.
“The goal was to have plans A, B, C, D, E and blah, blah, blah. Today A, B, C definitely didn’t work,” Sabalenka said.
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“So I had to, I don’t know, just run out there and throw as much of the ball back to him as possible. Then when I felt more confident, I went back to my usual game, which is aggressive and dominating.”
Two moments were proof of Sabalenka’s confidence in herself to produce exactly what she needed, when she needed it, despite her past disappointments. The first came after Rybakina rebounded from a 3-1 deficit in the third set and was serving at 5-5.
Rybakina saved five break points and after 11 minutes she took a 6-5 lead. Sabalenka held on in the next game to force a tiebreak.
The second moment was Rybakina’s championship point in this tiebreak. She sent a 121 mph ad-side serve screaming through the net, but Sabalenka was ready and whipped a backhand winner into a perfect acute angle.
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Sabalenka was studying. Relieve the pain, hoping to avoid it again.
“I saw this match point at the Australian Open that she did it, I don’t know how many times it happened to my face,” Sabalenka said.
“I was there thinking, OK, I have to cover a wide serve, and I left the T serve for her to pass or whatever.
“I was so lucky that she served a serve wide again, and I just covered that side. And no matter how fast the serve was, I know I can block it and I can come back. So I was very lucky in that regard. … I feel like that was the moment that gave me so much… I don’t know, so much mental power.”
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Two quick points later, and Sabalenka secured her victory, the world No. 1 making a statement against the woman who will move up to No. 2 on Monday.
She also had her trophy, which during the on-field ceremony turned out to be quite a heavy object.
“This trophy is so heavy. To be honest, I was so done with it. I had cramps after the match. It was so hot,” Sabalenka said, smiling.
“I was like, come on, I need a good picture. I need to lift it. I took all the remaining power and did it.”
This article was originally published in Athletics.
Tennis, Women’s Tennis
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