Sabalenka’s Soul-searching Goes On After Australian Open Final Collapse | Tumaini Carayol

World No 1 has won four and lost four grand slam finals but manner of some of those defeats raises questions

An hour after another excruciating loss in a significant final, Aryna Sabalenka was asked about her record in grand slam finals. She responded by lamenting the fact that she had lost the majority of those she had played. She was mistaken. Her bitter defeat to Elena Rybakina in the Australian Open final on Saturday left her with a 4-4 record in major finals, a poor but not ruinous record. However, considering how many great opportunities she has let pass her by over the past few years, it made perfect sense that, in Sabalenka’s mind, she is already a dozen defeats down.

The Belarusian continues to compile a fascinating career. So few players in the history of the sport have put themselves in position to compete for the biggest titles as frequently as Sabalenka. She has reached five of the past six grand slam finals and eight overall. In her past 13 grand slam tournaments, she has reached 12 semi-finals. The only time she failed to make the final two rounds of a slam was when she was dragged down by food poisoning in the quarter-finals of the 2024 French Open. Still, she took Mirra Andreeva to three sets.

This is a remarkable level of consistency, a reflection of her overall mental toughness and her ability to handle the pressure that accompanies the early rounds of grand slam tournaments. For 90% of the time Sabalenka looks by far the toughest and most formidable player in the world. However, her mental strength in so many different scenarios has repeatedly been counterbalanced by her inability to keep her head in the big finals. Once a major is in touching distance, Sabalenka is just as likely to lose her head as she is to thrive.

A significant amount of effort has already gone into addressing these problems. Sabalenka has worked with a sports psychologist in the past. She has been refreshingly frank about her mental deficiencies and how she becomes so unsettled in the most important moments. She knows as well as anyone that her wavering performances in finals are all about pressure, nerves and being able to think clearly enough to problem solve when a major is up for grabs.

Compared to some of her previous losses, such as her defeat to Coco Gauff in last year’s French Open final, Sabalenka’s loss on Sunday was not a catastrophe. Rybakina is the player of the moment and one of the few competitors who can outserve and overpower the 27-year-old, as she did in the key moments. However, losing five games in a row in the third set of a grand slam final from 3-0 up is unacceptable for the best player in the world. After brilliantly maintaining her composure to turn around a slow start, she became visibly agitated at the most important period in the match. Once again, she paid dearly for it.