Aryna Sabalenka laughs through pain after another grand slam final defeat

After being heavily criticised for her response to losing to Coco Gauff at the French Open last year, Sabalenka turned to gallows humour following her defeat against Elena Rybakina.

However, the laughter in her press conference could not disguise the bitter disappointment after Rybakina fought back from 3-0 down in the deciding set to win 6-4 4-6 6-4.

Sabalenka is unmatched in the women’s game at present in terms of reaching the latter stages of tournaments but, since winning her first grand slam crown in Melbourne three years ago, she has made 22 finals and only won 10 of them.

She has lost four of her eight slam deciders, including three of the last four, winning a set on each occasion but failing to make it across the line.

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“I had my opportunities,” she said after this latest loss. “It feels like I missed a couple, but it’s tennis.

“Today you’re a loser, tomorrow you’re a winner. Hopefully I’ll be more of a winner this season than a loser.”

Sabalenka insisted ahead of the match that she had learned from her recent final losses and she maintained afterwards that this one was different, but the world number one’s inability to keep her cool again cost her.

That was accentuated by the contrast with Rybakina, who once again showed she is unrivalled when it comes to masking her emotions.

It is three-and-a-half years since the 26-year-old won her maiden slam title at Wimbledon and this victory cemented her status as the most in-form player on the women’s tour.

She has won 20 of her last 21 matches and 10 in a row against the rest of the top 10, winning the WTA Finals to end last season and then picking up where she left off in 2026.

“I think that definitely she has more confidence and she goes for her shots without any doubt, I would say,” assessed Sabalenka.

“I still had opportunities, but the level was incredible. I feel like she just played more aggressive. She was able to build great confidence starting from (the WTA) Finals.”

Rybakina’s latest success certainly comes as no surprise given her prodigious ball-striking ability and potent serve – comfortably the best on the women’s tour.

Rybakina, who grew up in Russia but has represented Kazakhstan since 2018, will equal her career-high ranking of world number three on Monday and she is fewer than 400 points behind second-ranked Iga Swiatek.

Sabalenka remains some distance away but Rybakina had a poor first half of last season by her standards and failed to make a slam quarter-final, so major gains are very possible.

“I have big goals,” she said. “Of course, time will show, but definitely we will keep on working and hopefully I achieve my goals.”