As Geopolitics Swirl Around Tennis, Aryna Sabalenka Wins Australian Open Under Neutral Flag

With geopolitics swirling around tennis, Aryna Sabalenka became the first player to win a Grand Slam title while playing under a neutral flag.

A 24-year-old native of Belarus who has dramatically improved her serve in the last year, Sabalenka beat Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to capture her maiden Slam in a wildly entertaining Australian Open final.

After Rybakina, who was born in Moscow but now plays for Kazakhstan, sailed a forehand long on Sabalenka’s fourth match point, Sabalenka collapsed on her back on the court, dropped her racquet and covered her face with her hands as she sobbed tears of joy.

“Thank you guys so much for an amazing atmosphere,” Sabalenka told the crowd after accepting the trophy from Billie Jean King, whom she thanked for all she has done for the game. “It was enjoyable to play in front of you, thank you so much.”

She will take home about $2 million for winning her first major title after losing in three previous semifinals.

Because Belarus backs the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Australian Open said that Russian and Belarusian players could not compete under the flag or name of their countries, and instead have white flags next to their names. Players from both countries were banned from Wimbledon last year, and The All-England Club has yet to announce its policy for 2023. Tennis legends King and John McEnroe are among those calling for Wimbledon to allow players from both countries to participate.

“It’s really terrible because nobody supports the war, nobody,” Sabalenka told the Australian newspaper The Age at the end of December. The ban from Wimbledon “didn’t change anything” about the political situation, “and that’s the sad thing about it,” Sabalenka said. She added that playing under a neutral flag in Melbourne makes her feels as if she comes “from nowhere.”

Playing in her first major final, Sabalenka muscled her way to a break for 4-3 in the final set, earning the break with a powerful overhead smash from the baseline.

She then held serve for a 5-3 with an ace out wide. After Rybakina held serve for 4-5, Sabalenka missed on her first three match points before finally converting the fourth.

Rybakina had beaten five seeds en route to the final, including world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who won the French and U.S. Opens last year. She congratulated Sabalenka on joining the Grand Slam club.

“Good luok in the rest of the season, hopefully we’re going to have many more battles,” Rybakina said.

Sabalenka’s serve, once a fragile part of her game that led to an average of 15 double faults per match last year, is now a strength. She banged out 17 aces against 7 double faults while winning 72% of the points on her first serve.

“I’ve done a lot,” Sabalenka said recently of her serve. “I worked so hard. Even when my serve was, how did you say, ‘disaster’? I worked a lot on my serve. I kept trying, kept believing, kept changing.”

And now she’s a major champion, with more possibly to come.

“There’s no question in my mind that she’s going to win more majors,” ESPN’s Mary Jo Fernandez said on air.