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Aryna Sabalenka lost the final here at the Australian Open last year, but few remember that. Sabalenka is sure no one can recall it.
But she remembers, and it is an itch she needs to scratch this year. She is of the “if you’re not first you’re last”, Talladega Nights school of sporting philosophy – and she doesn’t want to lose again.
“I think when you get to the point of finals, it’s trophy or nothing,” she said. “Nobody remembers the finalist. Nobody puts next to the winner [the] finalist name.
“At this point, yeah, I go for titles. Of course, I have to be proud of myself with the finals; three finals in a row. That’s something crazy. I hope that next year I’ll come back as a better player, and I’ll hold Daphne (the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup) one more time.”
Sabalenka has career on-court earnings of more than $US45 million – a figure that will nudge $US50m by tournament’s end. She picked up another guaranteed $1.25m on Tuesday by beating teenager Iva Jovic in straight sets. Should she make the final here again, she’ll pocket $2.15m.
None of that counts the moolah she gets from the Gucci deal she announced last week, her Emirates sponsorship, the kit and cash from Nike, the arrangement to wear Material Good diamond jewellery or the Audemars Piguet watches she wears that are worth up to $250,000 each.
No wonder Aryna Sabalenka is so fond of Melbourne. She is now one win from making the Australian Open women’s singles final for the fourth consecutive year. Credit: AP
No, the extra two mill’ for the winner’s $4.15m pay cheque is unlikely to be what’s driving her.
After beating Jovic in straight sets 6-3, 6-0, she slightly moderated her definition of success in as much as she hinted she was just the one who said the quiet bit out loud.“I think every player when they get to the tournament is [thinking] trophy or nothing. The mentality is the same, and it’s always in the back of your mind that obviously you want to win it,” Sabalenka said.
Sabalenka asserts herself on the quarter-final.Credit: Getty Images
“But I’m trying to shift my focus on the right things and taking it step by step, and just trying my best in each match, each point, each game, each set. That’s my mentality.”
In the match against Jovic, Sabalenka played like each point couldn’t come quickly enough. Doubtless this was also a concession to the heat and a desire to get off the court as quickly as she could.
As it was, the match finished in straight sets. But if it had gone another set, the roof would have been closed and a longer break would’ve been taken.
“At the end of the match, it was really hot out there. I’m glad they kind of closed the roof almost halfway so we had a lot of shade in the back so we could go back and stay in the shade,” she said.
“But it was hot out there. I guess as a woman, we are stronger than the guys, so they had to close the roof for the guys so they don’t suffer, you know,” she added with a hearty laugh.
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“I knew going into this match, that they won’t let us play in crazy heat. If it would reach the five (the heat scale for activating the next stage of the extreme heat policy) they would definitely close the roof, so I knew that they were protecting us; our health.
“When we finished it was 4.4 (the heat scale), so it was quite hot. It’s OK. I’m happy that I managed.”
Sabalenka did well to manage a swift result in what was a deceptively close match.
OK, yes, Jovic didn’t win a game in the second set, but the contest was closer than that.
Serving for the first set, Sabalenka had to hold out three break points from the undaunted 18-year-old and was denied on a couple of set points by the teen, who was the youngest American to make the quarters here since Venus Williams in 1998.
For a better sense of how fast Jovic’s star is rising, consider that she has now reached the quarter- finals of all three tournaments to open her 2026 season, becoming the youngest player to do so since Maria Sharapova in 2005.
She will be very good. But on this day, the difference in maturity and strength was telling.
“These teenagers [are] testing me in the last couple of rounds,” Sabalenka said on court after her win.
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“This was a tough match. Don’t look at the score, she pushed me.”
In the semi-finals, Sabalenka will play whoever wins Tuesday night’s match between Coco Gauff and Elina Svitolina. But, shh, no one will remember that unless she reunites with the Daphne Akhurst Cup on Saturday night.
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