In 2022, during the tour’s January Australian swing, Aryna Sabalenka developed a hitch on her serve—a critical component of her bruising, imperious game style. In just her first two matches of that year—at two separate Australian Open tune-up tournaments—she hit 39 double faults and took losses to players ranked well below her. Out of desperation in the third set of one of these contests, she resorted to an underarm serve. Another time, she tried taking off all the pace and still missed. Some of the faults didn’t even reach the net.
The issue dented her confidence and followed her for much of the season. That May, her ranking dropped from world No. 2 to world No. 8.
But if you’ve ever seen the three-time US Open semifinalist play tennis, you know one thing to be true: Sabalenka does not cower or back down. Not from a shot, not from an opponent, not from a challenge.
She put in the work. She hired a biomechanics engineer to help her determine what was going wrong. She figured it out. She traveled back to the Australian Open a year later. She hit 46 aces—and just 29 double faults over seven matches—to capture her first-ever Grand Slam title.
“I think bringing a biomechanics guy on my team was not a difficult decision, but it was just different for me,” she said after her decisive quarterfinal victory over No. 23 seed Zheng Qinwen at the 2023 US Open. “Before, I wasn't really open to these kinds of things. I'm super happy and proud of myself that I was able to open myself to new stuff, which has really helped me to fix my serve and help me to get stronger on court.”
Stronger indeed. Grand Slam title in tow and almost two years removed from an experience that reduced her to tears, Sabalenka has become a model of consistency in the women’s game, an entrenched member of what the tennis punditry often refers to as the “Big 3,” which also features fellow Grand Slam champions Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina.
With Swiatek losing her US Open title defense in the fourth round, Sabalenka will rise to world No. 1 when the rankings are released next Monday. And after the win over Zheng, she is now officially the only woman to reach the semifinals (or better) at all four majors in 2023.
“I just have a really strong belief that all those tough matches that I lost will help me in the future in other tough matches, other tough battles.”
“We have been able to adjust to different conditions, different courts,” she said. “We were able to bring this consistency to my game. This is something I'm really proud of. It's just unbelievable.”
Of course, the brand new number next to her name on the ranking list brings its own brand new challenge: keeping it there. But Sabalenka isn’t sweating it as she looks ahead to a possible second Grand Slam final of the year.
“You know, I'm super happy with this achievement in my career, but, I mean, it's not a big change,” she said. “I have been No. 2. Now I'm No. 1. It's just a difference of position in the draw. I still have to bring my best tennis. I still have to play my best. People will try to chase me and get me. But it’s just extra motivation for me. You know, seeing them, really trying their best to beat me, it's like an extra power and energy for me to keep playing, keep pushing, keep getting better.”
And even if they do get the best of her, so what? If her serving woes have taught her anything, it’s that she can fall down nine (or 39) times and get up 10 (or 40).
“We're not losing, we're learning,” she said. “I just have a really strong belief that all those tough matches that I lost will help me in the future in other tough matches, other tough battles.”
If her 2023 record is any indication, it seems like that mentality is working.
