Aryna Sabalenka doesn’t “want to think about tennis” after another brutal loss in the women’s final and Rafael Nadal picks his men’s champion.
More from the Australian Open
Here are the quick hits from the Australian Open.
1. Fire and ice
After a 23-year-old Elena Rybakina won Wimbledon for her first grand slam title, John McEnroe and Tracy Austin in commentary were astounded by her subdued response.
“Someone tell her she won this thing,” McEnroe said, with Austin replying: “I am not even sure that Rybakina knows she won Wimbledon.”
We got another showcase of stony-faced stoicism from Rybakina as she apparently barely registered the impossibly tense Australian Open final she was playing in, hardly changing expression from go …
A gentle fist pump is about all you’re getting out of Elena Rybakina. (Getty Images: Clive Brunskill)
… to whoa.
You wouldn’t know it, but Elena Rybakina just won the Australian Open here. (Getty Images: Phil Walter)
Meanwhile, on the other side of the net …
Sabalenka is not a mystery. (Getty Images: Darrian Traynor)
… Aryna was really going through it.
Joy and pain can sometimes look the same. (AP: Dita Alangkara)
2. Finally a decider
Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina were dominant on their paths to the women’s singles final, refusing to drop a set in their first six matches in the tournament.
But Rybakina’s red-hot start put paid to Sabalenka’s perfect record as she broke in the first game of the match and carried that advantage all the way through the opening frame.
This was the last time their facial expressions matched. (Getty Images: Clive Brunskill)
An hour-and-a-half later, Sabalenka exacted revenge when she broke Rybakina in the last game of the second set to send both players to a decider for the first time in the tournament.
As the clock ticked over one hour and 40 minutes and Sabalenka broke for a 2-0 love in the third set, it became Rybakina’s longest match of the tournament.
As Rybakina broke back and won her fourth straight game to lead 4-3 with the timer at 2:05, it was officially Sabalenka’s longest too.
3. Back-to-back losses for Sabalenka
Aryna Sabalenka has made four straight Australian Open finals, but has lost the last two on the bounce.
This fact clearly upset the world number one as she threw a racquet, placed a towel on her head to hide and shed a tear after the defeat this year.
Speaking after the match, Sabalenka told the crowd she hopes “next year gonna be a better year for me”.
Sabalenka smashed her racquets after losing last year, but this year’s misery was more internal. (Getty Images: Darrian Traynor)
“Thank you to my team for always being there enjoying me losing finals, but sometimes we win them so let’s hope for the best. Let’s hope next year Daphne’s gonna be ours,” she said.
In the post-match press conference Sabalenka was asked about the emotions and feelings going through her head after a second straight Australian Open final loss.
“I don’t want to think about tennis,” she joked.
4. Rafa backs countryman Carlos
Two-time Australian Open champion Rafael Nadal was at Melbourne Park today to soak up some intense finals action.
Asked who he is going to support in the final out of his old rival Novak Djokovic and his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz, he said it has to be his fellow Spaniard.
“In some way, with Novak we have an amazing history with all those years competing for the most important things. I wish him all the very best,” he said.
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“But Carlos is from my country, I have a good relationship with him, we shared the Olympic games together and the Spanish team.
“If Novak wins, I will be happy for him because in some ways it is quite spectacular what he is doing at this stage in his career, so I will be happy, it will not be a drama for him.
“If I have to support someone, I feel [I have] to support Carlos.”5. Aussies miss out
Local vibes were high after Australian wildcard pair Olivia Gadecki and John Peers’s victory in the mixed doubles on Friday, but reality came for Aussies on Saturday.
Two more sets of wildcards — Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans in the men’s and Ymerali Ibraimi and Cooper Kose in the junior boys’ — contested finals on day 14 and it didn’t pan out for either.
Kubler and Polmans took the fight to sixth seeds Christian Harrison and Neal Skupski but went down 7-6(7/4), 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena, while the boys were beaten in straights by South African Connor Doig and Bulgarian Dimitar Kisimov.