It is the sum and continuation of Aryna Sabalenka, that tennis player of extremes who smiles, attacks and roars in equal doses, capable of starting a laugh as well as inflicting fear on her rivals: it is never a dish of good taste to have her in front of you. A few days ago I was munching on a $100 hot dog, covered in gold leaf; Now what he savors is a double that inscribes his name directly in history. ; Sunshine Doublethe Anglo-Saxons call it, something like the great ecstasy of March, the month that marks the number one’s first double (6-2, 4-6 and 6-3 against Coco Gauff, in 2h 10m) and her 24th title; that is, exactly the same as Iga Swiatek.
The Polish woman, precisely, was the last to achieve it, 2022; He was preceded by Steffi Graf (1994 and 1996), Kim Clijsters (2005) and Victoria Azarenka (2016). Sabalenka thus joins the club and continues the triumphant march of this season, in which . It happened in the final of the Australian Open. The rest, a walk. Three tournaments and three more trophies. She opened the course with an exhibition in Brisbane and the last month translates into a confirmation: today, almost everything depends on her. With the exception of the Kazakh, another textbook puncher, none of them manage to keep up with her on the hard court and they all inevitably collapse in her path.
She dictates, she orders, she commands. She, roller coaster. This is tennis and the personality of the genuine Sabalenka, overwhelming and visceral, increasingly more compact and more intimidating. There is no trap or cardboard: . None competes better. Now, she is no virtuoso, but she hits like no one else. The balls suffer from it. And for now it has four big ones, although it probably should have been a few more. The grand finals and the nerves, their subject (still) pending. Meanwhile, he continues to shine his record and now wins a double that, in the end, is still the closest thing to a Grand Slam: It’s been almost a month on fire.
In total, 12 wins in 22 days. The umpteenth demonstration of force. All the confidence that the one from Minsk (27 years old) exudes is missing from Gauff, a tennis player who lately competes with her head down and sheltered under her cap, no colors or braids, to a certain extent self-conscious due to a major problem with double faults. The bleeding does not stop: there were 35 on the way to the final and 7 in the last episode, then an average of as many per game. Too much delay. Excessive weakness for a player who aspires to refute face to face a competitor as linear as Sabalenka, who solved the problem a couple of years ago. From there, his tennis skyrocketed and with it, so did the results.
Every scream he utters contains a message, pure propaganda: ‘here I am, this is mine’. As if everything belonged to him. And so also comes this eleventh title in the 1000 category, second successive in Miami, where the final responds to the script that was foreseen in advance. One at the boarding and the other trying to counteract him. Gauff, always in the trenches, should take a step forward because today’s tennis does not admit otherwise and usually penalizes stinginess. The 22-year-old American suffers a break as soon as she sets foot on the court and although she delays it, she ends up conceding another. Set against her now, she tries to hold on to the duel patiently, without giving up, but Sabalenka is waiting for her.
As soon as number one sniffs the slightest doubt, she is aware that the rope (that morality) can break at any moment. Surely it is a matter of doing and waiting. So it seems. Faced with the exacerbated self-confidence of one, the anguished expression of the other, who makes sure again and again that the visor falls enough so that those fears that never go away cannot be guessed. Despite everything, Gauff does not give up. And the virtue is no less: in the face of the storm, knowing how to be there. Nailed. He fights it, he fights it, he fights it. Don’t give up. And, contrary to intuition, it seems that there is an end. Set ball and prize for her. It will stretch, then.
However, the fine balance is broken as soon as the third sleeve opens, with a break practically damning for a tennis player who, if she already has to paddle extra to compensate for what was granted, this time she will still have to add an extra. In tow, Gauff has the merit of not getting unstuck, but that’s it. Finally he bows. Sabalenka’s invasive shot also ends up taking over the third set and the statistics speak clearly: eleven break options for one, only two for the other. The governor of the circuit raises her arms once again and shines brightly that engagement ring that, indeed, has brought her fortune twice: two out of two for now, from California to Florida.
