Aryna Sabalenka’s mentality faces Elena Rybakina’s determination in rematch

MELBOURNE, Australia — When Aryna Sabalenka seriously considers an Australian Open final rematch with Elena Rybakina, she won’t have a breakout success in 2023.

Nor would it be the other three Grand Slam finals she has won, including the most recent one at the U.S. Open. Top-ranked Sabalenka will try to gain more momentum from the five finals she lost in 2025.

“I actually know what went wrong in all the finals I’ve been in and I’ve lost,” Sabalenka said. “I would say there were a lot of lessons learned last year, a lot of things to learn about myself, and that’s definitely not going to happen again this season.”

The list of final losses includes the WTA Finals decider in November, when she lost in three sets to Rybakina, who received a record $5.2 million in prize money.

Sabalenka lost to Madison Keys in the Australian Open final 12 months ago, ending her 20-match winning streak at Melbourne Park. In the French Open final, she defeated former three-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek in the semifinals before losing to Coco Gauff in three sets. At Wimbledon, she lost to Amanda Anisimova in the semifinals. In a year in which she won four titles, she also lost in the finals in Stuttgart and Indian Wells.

“It’s just a different mentality that I try to maintain every time I play in a final,” said top-ranked Sabalenka. “I feel like these frustrations come from not agreeing with what’s going on.”

Sabalenka must learn to let go of things that frustrate, distract or make her angry and focus on winning the next point. She achieved this in her semifinal victory over Elina Svitolina when the referee called her an obstruction in the fourth game – a decision she said was unprecedented but which she disputed. Sabalenka broke serve in that match and nearly dominated the match.

“My mentality now is that I’m ready to do anything, no matter what happens in the finals, I’m ready to fight with what I have,” she said. “When I have that mentality, I can play my best tennis. That’s how I got to the finals this season.”

Sabalenka has won 11 consecutive matches after winning the season title at the Brisbane International.

She reached the final without dropping a set, her fourth straight loss at the Australian Open, as did Rybakina. This has not happened in a Grand Slam tournament since 2008.

Another related stat: Not since 1999-2000 has the same two players appeared in one year’s season-ending tournament final and the next’s season-opening Grand Slam final.

Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport were involved. Hingis’ name is prominent this weekend as she is the last Australian woman to reach four or more consecutive finals. In the Open era, the only other one was Evonne Goolagong Cawley.

Victory in 2023 was Sabalenka’s breakthrough at the Grand Slams, delivering on the tremendous promise she had shown, but before that, her service performance had been hampered by nerves and inconsistency.

“I’m not going to enjoy that final because me and her, we’re different players,” Sabalenka said. “We’ve been through different things. We’re stronger mentally and physically and we’re playing better now.

“I will look at this game as a completely different game, we have a long history after the final. So I will look at this game as the first game.”

Moscow-born Rybakina, who plays for Kazakhstan, will take a similar approach after advancing to the semi-finals by beating Jessica Pegula, admitting she was broken twice on serve, with nearly half an hour between her first match point and winning it, and she found herself in trouble in the closing moments.

Three years ago, the 2022 Wimbledon champion reached the Australian final as the only Grand Slam champion. She won the first set and then fell 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

This will be her first major final since then. Rybakina reached the quarter-finals of another Grand Slam at Wimbledon in 2024 before arriving in Australia as the defending WTA Year-End Finals champion.

“Yes, we played here (in the 2023 final) and it was very close. I think I certainly had some small chances throughout the match, but at the end of the third set I think Elena stepped in. Her serve was better. Yes, she deserved this win,” Rybakina said.

“Of course, a lot of years have passed and a lot of games have been played. Hopefully with all the experience I’ve gained from the last game, the last time I played a final here, I can bring that to Saturday’s game.”

“Yes, I will fight until the end. I hope this time it will go as I wish.”