The morning after Aryna Sabalenka received her second consecutive Australian Open, her lodge room is chaos. You’ll be able to forgive her for not tidying up; after just a few hours of sleep and a protracted night time of celebrating over bitter gummy bears and champagne, Sabalenka’s room has been retconned into the set for her digital cowl shoot with Vogue Australia, for which she is being styled in a roster of Australian designers (Christopher Esber, Camilla & Marc, Dion Lee) and her trusty, trophy-winning cherry crimson Nike sneakers. “I truly love doing photoshoots,” Sabalenka grins, as she is zipped right into a second-skin Zimmermann skirt. “Proper now, with the professionals I really feel like I’m doing a horrible job,” she jokes. “I believe I must do some courses and be taught some stuff about how one can pose.”
Inside her lodge room, there are garments on each floor; Nike baggage are strewn throughout the ground. Lining the window overlooking downtown Melbourne are bouquets of flowers (a number of)—from her boyfriend, the hockey participant Konstantin Koltsov; from the lodge—a bottle of Piper Heidsick champagne, and a pristine, untouched chocolate gateau within the form of a tennis courtroom, declaring her the 2024 Australian Open champion. The entire room smells like sugar.
On a facet desk is a stupendous hand-drawn card, given to the 25-year-old a number of Grand Slam champion simply that morning by a younger lady. “Congratulations winner” the cardboard exclaims, the Australian Open trophy rendered in fluorescent yellow highlighter. “She was asking some questions on what recommendation I might give to her and who was my inspiration rising up,” Sabalenka shares. “She watched my match yesterday and he or she beloved it. She was so candy to me.”
Sabalenka is driving an unbelievable excessive. On Saturday night time, she defended her Australian Open title in simply 76 minutes, a quick and livid match that was over in straight, exacting units. Sabalenka got here into the ultimate towards Zheng Qinwen behind, ranked quantity two to Qinwen’s one. However Sabalenka’s recreation was methodical and dynamic, powering the Belarusian to a 6-3, 6-2 victory in simply over an hour of enjoying time. Australia is undoubtedly Sabalenka’s fortunate attraction; she received in her very first Grand Slam singles remaining right here simply final yr, in a match that went right down to the wire. Over the previous 12 months, she has reached the semifinals at each Grand Slam and performed a few of her greatest tennis, however her victory lap in Melbourne has been astonishing. This century, solely Ash Barty has dropped fewer video games on the highway to Australian Open glory. Put it this fashion: Sabalenka hasn’t misplaced a match at Rod Laver enviornment since 2021.
