Aryna Sabalenka’s dominant serve is missing, presumed lost, but there’s hope she’ll find it in time in Australia
Athletes spend decades trying to trick the mind. But what happens when the mind deceives the athlete?
Aryna Sabalenka arrived in Australia earlier this month with the goal of focusing on achieving her longtime dream of winning a Grand Slam.
Had a breakout season in 2021 in which she reached her first major career semi-final at Wimbledon, and then combined with the result at the US Open shortly after, and climbed to No. world, the 23-year-old wants more from the new year – and it seems within reach.
But then things went awry.
Playing in the top two in Adelaide to open the season, Sabalenka was betrayed by her usually dominant serve. She lost in the first round in both events – to Kaja Juvan and Rebecca Peterson, respectively – and recorded a total of 39 double errors. At times she was even forced to resort to serving because she simply couldn’t get the ball into play.
Sabalenka couldn’t hide her disappointment, or her tears. Her struggle went viral and headlines soon followed:
“Sabalenka failed again in Adelaide“
“Aryna Sabalenka is an Australian Open title contender, but her serve could thwart victory“
With such a disastrous start to her time Down Under, no one knows what will happen to Sabalenka in her opening match at the Australian Open against Storm Sanders, a wild card ranked 128th, on Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday. She opened the game with an ace but scored four doubles errors late in her second serve. When she went down to a set and break, and she was seen rolling her eyes in self-loathing and furiously slamming her racket off the court, it looked like her unexpected losing streak would continue.
But then something changed. Her serve didn’t magically return to top form, but she got out of her own head and stopped letting her serves affect every shot that followed.
Every point won, and then every match, bolstered her confidence, and she increasingly appeared like the Sabalenka that the WTA must know and competitors must fear. After more than two hours of fighting, Sabalenka won with a score of 5-7, 6-3, 6-2. She admits she was relieved by the results.
“Early in the game, when I was serving, it really surprised me,” Sabalenka said after the game. “You see how bad it was, so it took me by surprise and I wasn’t ready for the next shot.
“And after I found my rhythm again and I found my serve, I just stopped being surprised that it went in and I started playing, I started to move better, I stopped thinking a lot. about my serve, I started playing, you know, like just starting to enjoy the battle, enjoying the atmosphere.”
Now Sabalenka will have to keep doing it – no matter what is happening with her serve – to make her dream come true. Next, she will have to beat Wang Xinyu, a 20-year-old after her first major win, on Thursday in the second round.
What makes Sabalenka’s recent woes particularly surprising is how good her serve can be when she’s at her best. She’s always struggled with consistency in that division but nothing like what happened in her first two games in 2022. Even with some problems, especially in circa 2021, she’s still the second-highest goal scorer on tour (357) and ranks in the top 10 in terms of both serve points won and serve games won.
She’s been considered one of the strongest touring serveers for most of her career, and it makes for a deadly combo when it comes to her serve. Even 23 major championships Serena Williams raved about her tough achievement ahead of their meeting last year at the Australian Open and perhaps gave her the final compliment when she said, “Strong as I am.”
And Sabalenka has made no secret of her constant quest to improve, even when things are going well. Just seconds after winning the quarterfinals at the US Open in September, Sabalenka was spotted on the practice court trying to perfect her serve and get her move.
Her serves were also her focus throughout the season. She told the Adelaide referee her problem was a “technical problem”, but after the win over Sanders, Sabalenka said she did not believe the problem was with the serve itself. .
“” We worked a lot on serving but it wasn’t my serve. If you see me serving on the training ground, that’s perfect. Its [an] great serve. “”
Aryna Sabalenka
“We worked a lot on serving,” Sabalenka said on Tuesday. “But it’s not about my serve. If you see me serving on the training field, that’s perfect. It’s [an] great serve.
“I think it’s all here,” she added, while pointing at her head. “I’ve been thinking a lot about my serve. I’ve been trying to control everything and this isn’t how it works. I have a muscle memory and I just have to believe in myself and, yeah , that’s what I did in the middle of the second set.”
She admits it also took some work to figure that out.
After her second loss in Adelaide, Sabalenka received a text from a former Wimbledon and US Open finalist and a top 10 player. Mark Philippoussis. His message was simple: “Well, girl, don’t think too much about your serve.”
Philippoussis was commenting at the tournament, and he offered to see her later that day to help. That night, the pair, along with her coach, spent several hours on the training ground. He gives her some advice and encourages her to stay positive.
“I’m really grateful to him for this help because that’s what helped me today in the game to survive there,” Sabalenka said.
Now, Sabalenka, a 10-time WTA champion and two-time mixed doubles champion, will keep the same attitude in her next bout and beyond. The Australian Open offers the opportunity not only for the first major singles title of his career but also the chance to take the number one spot in the world. Sabalenka can do it with last appearance (and current number 1 Ashleigh Barty lost before the quarterfinals) or with a win (and Barty lost before the final).
Of course, after the challenges she’s had this season, Sabalenka didn’t talk about it on Tuesday. She is grateful to be playing another day in Melbourne and hopes she continues to improve.
“I didn’t play my best tennis,” she said of the match against Sanders. “But I’m not looking for the best tennis [at] the beginning of the tournament. I just want to build myself through the matches. And I’m really happy right now because I was able to [get] through this tough match. “
