The Revenge of 2023

A second crown for the Queen?

Aryna Sabalenka is laying down the law on tour with relentless authority, racking up 11 straight wins without dropping a single set in 2026. More than simple domination, she imposes a constant physical challenge that leaves her rivals gasping for air, strengthened by a record against the world’s elite (16–5) that cements her status as the boss. Off the lines, Aryna arrives possessed by a contagious fury: the hindrance incident in her semifinal acted as a tactical spark, turning her irritation at the umpire into a doubled striking power. Driven by Anton Dubrov, she’s aiming for a place at the top of history with an Australian triple that would seal her reign.hindranceduring her semifinal acted as a tactical spark, turning her irritation at the umpire into a doubled striking power.

Up against this steamroller, Elena Rybakina steps in as the arbiter of fate, driven by the desire to settle her score with the 2023 final. She radiates surgical calm, remaining impervious to the surrounding turmoil thanks to her cold-blooded handling of biometric data that she tracks via her connected clothing, despite a reprimand from the umpire over her watch, which is stirring debate this year in Melbourne! Ryba is no longer content just to counter; she absorbs the opponent’s energy and sends it back with razor-sharp precision. The key lies in her ability to break Saba’s momentum, a strategy validated in Riyadh last November. There, Elena neutralized the world No. 1 (6–3, 7–6) by handing her a stinging 7–0 in the tiebreak, proving she knows how to shut down her opponents’ circuits when the stakes get critical, well aided by Vukov’s live coaching!

The numbers back up this contrast: while Aryna seems to fly around the court, her serve has some dark spots, with only 53.3% first-serve success this season. On the other side of the net, Elena relies on precision mechanics with 62.9% first serves in and a brazenly high 90.7% of service games held. Ryba stands out as the sharpest returner against the elite (47.5% of pressure points won on return, compared with 42.7% for Saba), a crucial reading of the game to exploit the hesitations of an Aryna prone to double faults. If the Belarusian machine sputters even slightly, Elena will be there to slam the door without the slightest hesitation, and we’ll have, at the very least, a three-set remake of the 2023 final.

Elena sits atop the tournament leaderboard with 41 aces in six matches, almost double Aryna’s 22. This dominance on serve is in fact the world No. 1’s worst nightmare, since Rybakina posts an ace rate of 17.8% in their head-to-heads, compared with just 6.8% for Saba, proving that the Kazakh has the keys to shutting down her opponent’s rhythm on her own serve.