The Japan Times - From fragile youngster to dominant star, Sabalenka chases more glory

Two Australian Open crowns, in 2023 and 2024, and two at the US Open have established the powerful Belarusian as the dominant force in the women's game.

Already the first woman to mount a successful title defence at Melbourne Park since compatriot Victoria Azarenka in 2013, the 27-year-old can etch her name among the greats by winning a third on Saturday against Elena Rybakina.

In doing so, she would join an esteemed group including Serena Williams, Martina Hingis and Steffi Graf.

She is playing a fourth consecutive Australian Open final -- something only Evonne Goolagong and Hingis have done previously in the Open era.

"I just love this place," Sabalenka said of playing on Rod Laver Arena. "I love this stadium. Every time I'm competing there, I really enjoy my time."

While now her happy place, where she's lost just one of her last 25 matches, it is a far cry from the 2022 tournament where her serve was in pieces and her fragile emotions laid painfully bare.

The dramatic change since then has been a reward for hard work with her coaches and a sports psychologist, which has given her a zen-like peace while losing none of her fierce competitive instincts.

"Right now my mentality is like I'm ready to do whatever, whatever is going to be in that finals, I'm ready to go out there and fight with what I have and do everything I can," she said.

"I think when I have this mentality, I play my best tennis, and I'm there, I'm fighting."

The belief in herself allows Sabalenka to dig herself out of sticky situations, starkly illustrated by an incredible record in tie-breaks.

- Tragedy -

During her fourth-round clash with teenage Canadian Victoria Mboko, she broke Novak Djokovic's Open era record of consecutive tie-breaks won at Grand Slams.

The 6-1, 7-6 (7/1) win was her 20th tie-break triumph in a row.

"I just go into the tie-breaks and try to not think about this is a tie-break and I try and play point by point, and I guess that's the key to this consistency," she said.

Sabalenka has attributed her dominance over the past year to being "more mature, older, whatever you want to call it".

Her breakthrough Slam came at Melbourne in 2023, which she followed up by making the semi-finals in Paris and at Wimbledon, before reaching the final of the US Open that year.

She then lifted two more majors in 2024, a season in which she had to deal with the death of her ex-boyfriend -- NHL ice hockey player Konstantin Koltsov -- in an apparent suicide.

After he died, the Belarusian opted to play in the Miami Open and subsequently said it was a mistake.

"Once, I lost my father (in 2019) and tennis helped me to go through that tough loss," she told the Guardian newspaper later that year.

"So at that moment I thought I had to just keep going, keep playing, keep doing my thing to separate my personal life from my career life.

"But at the end I would say I was struggling a lot health-wise because I didn't stop. It was really emotional and really stressful."

Once again, Sabalenka bounced back, winning the US Open last year to now stand on the cusp of yet more glory.

M.Sugiyama--JT