There’s only one thing that can make Aryna Sabalenka's 2025 season whole. Never mind that she’s compiled a tour-leading 55 victories this year, including 22 at the majors. Ignore the fact that she’s won 38 of her last 40 matches at the hard-court majors, and reached the final in each of the last six hard-court majors, winning three of them.
None of it will matter if Sabalenka cannot add the cherry on top of her Grand Slam season and come away with a successful title defense on Saturday in Flushing Meadows. End of story.
The heartbreak of losing finals to Madison Keys and Coco Gauff at this year’s Australian Open and French Open, respectively, still weighs heavy on the 27-year-old’s heart. Here in New York, she’s looking to change the narrative and show the world that she can still win the big one.
“I badly wanted to give myself another opportunity, another final, and I want to prove to myself that I learned those tough lessons and I can do better in the finals,” Sabalenka told reporters after her hard-fought 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Jessica Pegula on Thursday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
As satisfying as her comeback against the Buffalo, N.Y., native must have been on Thursday night inside the pressure-cooker environment in Ashe, Sabalenka did not linger on the joy of reaching the final for long. Her attention was already focused on the only goal that matters at the moment.
“If I'll be able to hold that trophy, it's going to mean a lot for me. I'll be the happiest person on earth, probably,” she said.
It’s a shame that it all has to hinge on Saturday’s final, against either Naomi Osaka or Amanda Anisimova, but Sabalenka wouldn’t have it any other way. This is a woman that thrives on the big stage, a phenom whose pulsating tennis was built to beat back the pressure and shine brightly on the biggest occasions.
We saw that woman on Thursday as Sabalenka calmly navigated a deficit against Pegula, capturing the final two sets and quieting the New York crowd to reach her seventh major final since the start of 2023. When Sabalenka’s back is against the wall, expect her to come out punching.
After falling short at Wimbledon, in the semifinals to Anisimova, Sabalenka was brutally honest about what it felt like to come up empty in her first three Grand Slam appearances of 2025.
“Losing sucks, you know?” she told the press. “You always feel like you want to die, you don't want to exist anymore, and this is the end of your life.
“But the first moment is always the worst one, because every time you compete at [a Grand Slam], and you get to the last stages, you think that you're getting close to your dream. Then you lose the match, and you feel like, ‘OK, this is the end.’”
She may have felt like Sisyphus for much of the season, pushing that rock up the hill only to have it tumble back down upon her, but in her heart of hearts, Aryna Sabalenka knows that she is more like a phoenix rising from the ashes.
“It's tough, but I never give up, and I'm going to come back stronger, for sure,” she concluded at Wimbledon.
Lo and behold, eight weeks later she’s running up that hill again in New York City, one step from becoming the first woman to defend the US Open women’s singles title since Serena Williams in 2014.
It’s a testament to her determination, her consistency and her excellence. But it’s not enough. Not yet.
