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feather_ghyllI predicted that Sabalenka would win and still thought going into the final that she would on the basis of the Australian Open so far, but was supporting Rybakina. To keep up with the men and their five-set competitiveness, I hoped that it would go to three.
I was able to listen to the first two sets, where Rybakina broke Sabalenka in the first game. Sabalenka didn’t get very far on Rybakina’s service games, although she generally started handling the power and pace better as the set went on, and so the quiet Russian-born Kazakh was up a set.
Sabalenka wasn’t able to convert her break points in the second game of the second set, and both players kept their serves. The commentators started describing Rybakina as a (soul-sucking) Dementor, because she gives her opponents (and tennis commentators and the crowd) so little. Very nice, I don’t think. She’s just self-contained! The expressive Sabalenka was trying to control her emotions somewhat so she could focus on the tennis.
Anyway, Sabalenka did have the scoreboard advantage of serving first and at 5-4 was finally able to exert real pressure, Rybakina made some errors, Sabalenka won the set and it was down to the third.
This is where I stopped listening, and am going from highlights. Sabalenka continued to dominate, breaking once, and leading 3-0. But to her credit, Rybakina dug in and rediscovered a better level of play, breaking back and breaking again, and continuing to serve well and do that rare thing of pushing Sabalenka enough to pick off winners. The quiet blonde won, and Sabalenka, four time finalist here, had to accept her second loss to Rybakina in a few months. It was pointed out during the build-up that Sabalenka hadn’t had to face a top 10 player in the tournament, although I think it’s more of an issue that Rybakina is one of the few (along with Anisimova and Keys) who can match Sabalenka when she gets on her front foot. It was very much a battle of who could get on the front foot first.
As for Elena ‘celebratory fist pump and small smile’ Rybakina, she’s backed up last year’s big win and all the talent that everyone has seen for years by overcoming Sabalenka here as she wasn’t able to do in 2023. Yes, her tour-beating serve was the foundation, but, like Keys last year, she beat the world no. 2 and 1 to win. She’s now a two-time grand slam winner (with no asterisk to this win). Five different women have won the last five grand slams, so who knows if she’ll be able to continue to build on this? She's got herself to no. 3 in the rankings now, anywya. But Rybakina is enough of a heavyweight and has enough game that it’s very plausible if she stays healthy, etc, that she could and could compete with the current top 2. Sabalenka will probably feel wretched (she doesn’t want 2025 to repeat itself when it comes to slams!) But it wasn't as bad a loss as the French Open final.
Jovic was the new tennis star in the firmament. Swiatek and Gauff have things to ponder as real contenders. Svitolina deservedly got back to the top 10, although top 5 looks beyond her. It’s not beyond Anisimova and Pegula, and we still don’t know where Andreeva and Mboko will end up. Raducanu has parted ways with her latest coach, I see.
Going in, I predicted that Sinner would win, which was not mad, as he was the double defending champion, and had expected him to be facing Alcaraz in the final. But it would be an Alcaraz vs. Djokovic rematch instead. Given that Alcaraz was the younger man and had showed just as much will to win in the semis, oh, yes, and seeding, I thought Alcaraz should win over Djokovic, although there was a bit of uncertainty about both of their physical conditions.
I only listened to a few games, up till Djokovic first broke Alcaraz and then had to wait until our night time to find out what had happened. It turned out that Djokovic had played something like the attacking level he’d had against Sinner for the first set, but the question was: could he maintain it? Alcaraz made some adaptations to his game, and started to boss more points in the second set. He won it with the reverse score of the first, and continued to dominate in the third. The fourth set was closer, but Alcaraz had the advantage of serving first, and in the 6-5 game, did a Djokovic in that he locked down and made no errors, Djokovic made some…and it was Alcaraz’s win.
The main headline is that he’s the youngest man ever to achieve the career grand slam. But there are others of note. He’s won the first final he’s played in in every grand slam, leapfrogging his best result here (quarter finals) this year. Oh, and he now has 7 major titles in total, at 22, which puts him on a par with John MacEnroe, Mats Vilander, Venus Williams and Justine Henin, at 22, which is monumental. His level, particularly his focus throughout matches, was up there where it was in the US Open, and you can see how he’s matured. You can track it in the grand slam finals he’s faced against Djokovic, and how the way he’s won them has changed, actually. Should he remain healthy, and Sinner, at least, will have some say in this, he should achieve so much more.
The script for men’s tennis has been tweaked slightly, although it took a monumental performance, one of his best since the Olympics, from Djokovic to beat Sinner (after getting a less physically taxing route there, and you’ve got to feel for Musetti) to stop the seemingly inevitable Sincaraz final. But the problem for the rest of the pack, at which Djokovic is still at the head - in part because of his inner champion, in part because of luck this year - is that to win a grand slam these days, you have to beat both Sinner and Alcaraz. It's no mean feat, Zverev couldn’t do it against a compromised Alcaraz. At the moment, the younger of those two is ahead with the totals.
Overall, Spizzeri made a name for himself, Tien backed up everything he’s done over the past 13 months, Musetti suggested he’s finding new, higher levels, so let’s hope he recovers soon. De Minaur, Shelton and Zverev face broadly the same Sincaraz problems. Although he got into a final again to try for 25, Djokovic is getting ever close to 39. The best matches were the two semi-finals, emphasising again that last year’s French Open final was something special.
Sinner must be hungry (and hoping it won’t be too hot at the French Open), and has no points to defend for the next three months, but Alcaraz is flying high, after the change in the coaching set-up, after conquering the fourth great peak – sorry mixed metaphors. He’s tennis’s darling (give or take the ‘was it just cramp?’ issue), although Djokovic is continuing to get more love at this stage of his career.
I was able to listen to the first two sets, where Rybakina broke Sabalenka in the first game. Sabalenka didn’t get very far on Rybakina’s service games, although she generally started handling the power and pace better as the set went on, and so the quiet Russian-born Kazakh was up a set.
Sabalenka wasn’t able to convert her break points in the second game of the second set, and both players kept their serves. The commentators started describing Rybakina as a (soul-sucking) Dementor, because she gives her opponents (and tennis commentators and the crowd) so little. Very nice, I don’t think. She’s just self-contained! The expressive Sabalenka was trying to control her emotions somewhat so she could focus on the tennis.
Anyway, Sabalenka did have the scoreboard advantage of serving first and at 5-4 was finally able to exert real pressure, Rybakina made some errors, Sabalenka won the set and it was down to the third.
This is where I stopped listening, and am going from highlights. Sabalenka continued to dominate, breaking once, and leading 3-0. But to her credit, Rybakina dug in and rediscovered a better level of play, breaking back and breaking again, and continuing to serve well and do that rare thing of pushing Sabalenka enough to pick off winners. The quiet blonde won, and Sabalenka, four time finalist here, had to accept her second loss to Rybakina in a few months. It was pointed out during the build-up that Sabalenka hadn’t had to face a top 10 player in the tournament, although I think it’s more of an issue that Rybakina is one of the few (along with Anisimova and Keys) who can match Sabalenka when she gets on her front foot. It was very much a battle of who could get on the front foot first.
As for Elena ‘celebratory fist pump and small smile’ Rybakina, she’s backed up last year’s big win and all the talent that everyone has seen for years by overcoming Sabalenka here as she wasn’t able to do in 2023. Yes, her tour-beating serve was the foundation, but, like Keys last year, she beat the world no. 2 and 1 to win. She’s now a two-time grand slam winner (with no asterisk to this win). Five different women have won the last five grand slams, so who knows if she’ll be able to continue to build on this? She's got herself to no. 3 in the rankings now, anywya. But Rybakina is enough of a heavyweight and has enough game that it’s very plausible if she stays healthy, etc, that she could and could compete with the current top 2. Sabalenka will probably feel wretched (she doesn’t want 2025 to repeat itself when it comes to slams!) But it wasn't as bad a loss as the French Open final.
Jovic was the new tennis star in the firmament. Swiatek and Gauff have things to ponder as real contenders. Svitolina deservedly got back to the top 10, although top 5 looks beyond her. It’s not beyond Anisimova and Pegula, and we still don’t know where Andreeva and Mboko will end up. Raducanu has parted ways with her latest coach, I see.
Going in, I predicted that Sinner would win, which was not mad, as he was the double defending champion, and had expected him to be facing Alcaraz in the final. But it would be an Alcaraz vs. Djokovic rematch instead. Given that Alcaraz was the younger man and had showed just as much will to win in the semis, oh, yes, and seeding, I thought Alcaraz should win over Djokovic, although there was a bit of uncertainty about both of their physical conditions.
I only listened to a few games, up till Djokovic first broke Alcaraz and then had to wait until our night time to find out what had happened. It turned out that Djokovic had played something like the attacking level he’d had against Sinner for the first set, but the question was: could he maintain it? Alcaraz made some adaptations to his game, and started to boss more points in the second set. He won it with the reverse score of the first, and continued to dominate in the third. The fourth set was closer, but Alcaraz had the advantage of serving first, and in the 6-5 game, did a Djokovic in that he locked down and made no errors, Djokovic made some…and it was Alcaraz’s win.
The main headline is that he’s the youngest man ever to achieve the career grand slam. But there are others of note. He’s won the first final he’s played in in every grand slam, leapfrogging his best result here (quarter finals) this year. Oh, and he now has 7 major titles in total, at 22, which puts him on a par with John MacEnroe, Mats Vilander, Venus Williams and Justine Henin, at 22, which is monumental. His level, particularly his focus throughout matches, was up there where it was in the US Open, and you can see how he’s matured. You can track it in the grand slam finals he’s faced against Djokovic, and how the way he’s won them has changed, actually. Should he remain healthy, and Sinner, at least, will have some say in this, he should achieve so much more.
The script for men’s tennis has been tweaked slightly, although it took a monumental performance, one of his best since the Olympics, from Djokovic to beat Sinner (after getting a less physically taxing route there, and you’ve got to feel for Musetti) to stop the seemingly inevitable Sincaraz final. But the problem for the rest of the pack, at which Djokovic is still at the head - in part because of his inner champion, in part because of luck this year - is that to win a grand slam these days, you have to beat both Sinner and Alcaraz. It's no mean feat, Zverev couldn’t do it against a compromised Alcaraz. At the moment, the younger of those two is ahead with the totals.
Overall, Spizzeri made a name for himself, Tien backed up everything he’s done over the past 13 months, Musetti suggested he’s finding new, higher levels, so let’s hope he recovers soon. De Minaur, Shelton and Zverev face broadly the same Sincaraz problems. Although he got into a final again to try for 25, Djokovic is getting ever close to 39. The best matches were the two semi-finals, emphasising again that last year’s French Open final was something special.
Sinner must be hungry (and hoping it won’t be too hot at the French Open), and has no points to defend for the next three months, but Alcaraz is flying high, after the change in the coaching set-up, after conquering the fourth great peak – sorry mixed metaphors. He’s tennis’s darling (give or take the ‘was it just cramp?’ issue), although Djokovic is continuing to get more love at this stage of his career.
