Getty Aryna Sabalenka celebrates winning the 2024 Australian Open.
Aryna Sabalenka‘s 2024 Australian Open championship was not just another Grand Slam title for the world’s second-ranked women’s tennis player.
Here’s why the title was a record setter for the 25-year-old from Belarus:
1. Aryna Sabalenka Won the Australian Open Without Dropping a Single Set
En route to the title, Sabalenka won every match in straight sets. According to Tennis Magazine, this consistent play helped Sabalenka become the first woman in two years to secure a Grand Slam title without dropping a set, a feat last achieved by Ashleigh Barty in 2022.
Moreover, Sabalenka joined an elite group of stars, becoming only the fifth woman since 2000 to win the Australian Open without losing a set. The other four: Lindsay Davenport in 2000, Maria Sharapova in 2008, Serena Williams in 2017 and Barty in 2022.
Her dominance in Australia might be just beginning, according to ESPN’s Jake Michaels.
“The scariest part for Sabalenka’s rivals might well be that she is still very much an unfinished project,” Michaels wrote on January 27. “Few, if any, can match her sheer power and aggression, but knowing how to control it and ensure it’s being used to her advantage, rather than to her detriment, is something she’s only beginning to learn. Her understanding of when to attack and when to play a more conservative brand of tennis, in a way that doesn’t detract from her obvious strengths, was on display in Saturday’s final.”
2. Sabalenka Defeated Coco Gauff on Her Road to the Title
After losing to American Coco Gauff at the 2023 U.S. Open, Sabalenka was motivated to work harder and come back stronger, she said.
“I’m definitely a different person and a player and I have more experience playing the last stages of the Grand Slams,” Sabalenka told reporters after the Australian Open final. “There was some tough moments for me losing the U.S. Open final – that loss actually motivated me so much to work even harder.
In their Australian Open semifinal, Sabalenka defeated No. 4-ranked Gauff 7-6(2), 6-4 and extended her winning streak in Melbourne to 13 matches, according to ESPN. Tennis Magazine reported that the win was Sabalenka’s first against a Top 4 player at a Grand Slam.
“It was an incredible match,” Sabalenka said. “She’s a great player, always tough battles against her. I think the key was that I was able to stay focused no matter what, no matter what the score was, I just keep trying my best, keep fighting for it.
3. Aryna’s Win Makes Her a Back-to-Back Australian Open Champion
Tennis Magazine reported that Sabalenka is only the third woman in the Open Era to clinch her first two Grand Slam titles at the same Grand Slam in consecutive years.
“It’s been on my mind that I didn’t want to be that player who wins [a Grand Slam] and then disappeared,” Sabalenka told ESPN after the 2024 Australian Open finals. “I just wanted to show that I’m able to be consistently there and I’m able to win another one.
These back-to-back victories also make Sabalenka the first woman since Victoria Azarenka in 2012 and 2013 to claim consecutive Australian Open titles, per Tennis Magazine. Only eight other women in the Open Era have achieved consecutive Grand Slam titles.
A further breakdown of Sabalenka’s consecutive Australian Open titles shows that she won her last 14 matches and 28 out of her last 29 sets in Melbourne.
Sabalenka looks to carry her impressive Australian Open play into her 2024 season.
She told reporters, “Now, having two Grand Slam titles, it’s definitely given me more confidence and believe in myself. I’m where I’m meant to be, so that’s really important.”