Aryna Sabalenka Concedes Australian Open Title to Elena Rybakina
On a temperate evening in Melbourne, Aryna Sabalenka—appearing in her fourth consecutive Australian Open final, with two titles at the tournament already under her belt—ceded what would have been her fifth Grand Slam win to the 26-year-old Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, 4–6, 6–4, 6–4.
The win marked a major comeback for Rybakina, the world number five, who had not won a major since 2022, when she bested then world number three Ons Jabeur at Wimbledon. In Melbourne this year she didn’t drop a set until the final, trouncing Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.
In turn, Saturday’s match represented an emotional defeat for Sabalenka—a fearsome competitor on a bad day—whose tremendous power saw her take a commanding lead in the third set, 3–0, before going on to lose five consecutive games as Rybakina served out the match.
Still, Sabalenka was calm and good-humored in her post-match remarks, saying, “I want to start with Elena. I [want to] congratulate you on the incredible round, incredible tennis. Congrats to you and your team on such an incredible achievement.” She went on to thank the crowd—“I always [look] forward to [playing] in front of you”—as well as her team, joking, “thank you for enjoying me losing finals. But also, sometimes we win them, so let’s hope for the best. Let’s hope that next year is definitely gonna be ours, right?”
In her own speech, a level Rybakina also expressed her gratitude to the fans in the stands, saying, “I want to say thank you to you for an incredible atmosphere. Your support kept us going. Thank you everyone who made this tournament possible. It really is the ‘Happy Slam.’” Turning her attention to her team, she added, “without you, it wouldn’t be possible. We had a lot of things going on and I’m glad we achieved this result. Hopefully we can keep on going strong this year.”
We’ll see you here tomorrow for the men’s final, which sees Carlos Alcaraz face off against Novak Djokovic, playing in his first major final since Wimbledon in 2024 (when he… also played Alcaraz!).
