Just In: Fans Left in Shock as Aryna Sabalenka’s Coach Sends Elena Rybakina a Brutal Message Ahead of the US Open Final
Aryna Sabalenka is hoping to become the first woman to win three US Open titles in a row since Serena Williams pulled off the impressive feat from 2012 to 2014. It’s been three years since the top seed last suffered defeat in Flushing Meadows. But while she’s won all six matches she’s played this fortnight, she’s already lost something else. Her world No. 1 ranking.
The Belarusian has spent 99 consecutive weeks at the top of the rankings, and 107 in total. But she has been dethroned by Elena Rybakina, who is also her opponent in the final. While Sabalenka has already relinquished her status as the world No. 1, she’s made it clear that she doesn’t want to give up her US Open crown.
And Jason Stacy, Sabalenka’s performance coach, believes she won’t. The American, who wrote the book, The Pressure Code, has warned that the US Open is her house – and that it’s time for everyone else to “go home”.
And that was evident in Sabalenka’s performance against Jessica Pegula in the semi-finals. The top seed won 7-5 6-2, and Pegula suggested it was the best match the Belarusian had played this year. It seems Stacy agrees.
Aryna is remembering who she is, like being very, very aligned with who she is. She knows what she’s capable of. She knows that playing someone like Jess on a big stage in a big moment, that she needs to step it up,” he explained.
“She just has to show up and understand, the way I like to put it, no disrespect to anybody, is that, like, this is her house, and all the other girls are just guests, and it’s time for them to go home.
It’s been a tough few months for Sabalenka. This is her first final since late March. She was bagelled in the French Open quarter-finals, blowing a huge lead and losing the last 10 games in a row. She came up short against Naomi Osaka in the fourth round of Wimbledon. She failed to advance beyond the last 16 of the WTA 1000 events in Canada and Cincinnati.
But she’s back in her hunting ground and has rediscovered her best form. Stacy continued: “I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way, but her showing up and understanding that, hey, it’s her job to dictate the pace, to understand what her strategy is, and to not go to the level of the person across the net, not to meet them where they’re at, but I’m here to just do my job, and that’s it.
“That’s how she plays when she plays well. She’s in that moment where she’s getting that connection with herself and that alignment. When she can get out there and play that way, then everyone’s in trouble.”
Rybakina will have to disrupt that version of Sabalenka when they meet on Saturday night. But the second seed knows what it takes to beat the four-time Major champion, and came from a break down in the deciding set of the Australian Open final in January to defeat two-time former champ Sabalenka and lift the trophy.
The Kazakh has taken Sabalenka’s No. 1 ranking. Will she deny her a hattrick of US Open titles?
