Saturday, September 6, 2025

Always in the New York groove

Today, world number 1 Aryna Sabalenka did something that no woman had done since 2013 and 2014--she won back-to-back U.S. Open singles titles. The last player to do that was Serena Williams, who did it twice in a row. Sabalenka defeated 8th seed Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-6(3) in the final, and in doing so, created some unusual stats.

I"m not a big statistics person--I find that so many of the stats that are presented regarding professional tennis are obscure and irrelevant. But this one, in my opinion, is worth mentioning: In winning the U.S. Open, Sabalemka won her 100th major match. When she won Wimbledon a bit earlier in the summer, Iga Swiatek won her 100th major match. That's worth noting on its own, but here's the twist: They both defeated Anisimova in their respective finals.

Anisimova's story is a familiar one in the tennis world. It was a milestone for her to get to the final at Wimbledon, and a huge milestone for her to defeat Swiatek in the U.S. Open quarterfinals. And then, suddenly, she was in the final. And even though she came in with a 6-3 record against the world number 1 (and a 2-1 record on hard courts), she faced an uphill battle. Not only had Sabalenka already won three major titles, including a U.S. Open title, but--after losing both the Australian Open and the French Open finals this year--she was a Tiger on a mission.

Sabalenka may not be known for nuance, but the fact is, she and her team don't miss much. Anisimova defeated her in the Wimbledon semifinals, so she had very recent history upon which to draw. And--while Sabalenka can hit most opponents off the court--that isn't the case with Anisimova. In fact, if push came to shove, it would probably be the other way around. So The Tiger had to be ready.

 One thing that she did was to fine-tune her second serve. In New York, she had a second serve win percentage of 63, as opposed to 44 in London. She was also quite strategic in her serving, which helped her to take control of rallies. Sabalenka and Anisimova have long shared a trait--they have let their emotions get the better of them. And while both of them have pretty much overcome that problem, it was Sabalenka who was calmer and more in control today.

The match did become tense in the second set, when Sabalenka served for it at 5-4. She missed an overhead, and then she was broken. Anisimova then held, and the match went to a tiebreak. Sabalenka went up 4-1, then Anisimova double-faulted. Shortly thereafter, Sabalenka held five match points, and on her third, she won the championship.

Aryna Sabalenka has now won four majors---two Australian Open titles, and two U.S. Open titles. 

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