There’s a special tradition at the US Open, where coaches of the singles champions are awarded miniature replicas of the winners’ trophy, in recognition of their efforts.
Last week, after Aryna Sabalenka secured the third Grand Slam title of her career and first at the US Open, the Belarusian stood in the main interview room at the media centre and proudly handed her coach Anton Dubrov a mini version of the trophy she had just won.
Dubrov, who has been coaching Sabalenka since 2020, looked as relieved as his player was when she finally clinched the title in New York.
“It actually means a lot, to be honest,” Dubrov told The National. “Because we’ve gone through some pretty tough things before, especially in July when she got injured before Wimbledon. And it was the period where we had some doubts about what we were going to do next, because we have to come back and how we will be able to come back here after having a tough loss from last year.”
After losing in the US Open semi-finals in 2021 and 2022, Sabalenka fell in the 2023 final to home favourite Coco Gauff, who rallied from a set down to overcome her power-hitting opponent.
It was a tough pill to swallow for Sabalenka, who found herself once again facing an American in a US Open final just 12 months later – this time against Jessica Pegula.
With a capacity of nearly 24,000, Arthur Ashe Stadium is the largest tennis arena in the world and its New York crowd make sure it is also the loudest.
When Pegula wiped a 3-0 deficit against Sabalenka in the second set of the final last week and swept five games in a row, the home fans erupted and nearly blew the roof off the stadium, which was closed due to the rain and made everything sound even louder.
NBA superstar Stephen Curry was sitting behind the baseline cheering on Pegula, urging her to complete the comeback.
In front of a celebrity-packed house that was mostly rooting against her, Sabalenka did not falter as she did a year earlier. Instead, she blocked out the noise and, in the words of Pegula, “played some big tennis in some big moments”, to win in straight sets.
“Aryna did great. She stuck to the plan, she trusted the process, she trusted the things we talked through every day and she was actually brave enough to do them when she was under huge pressure,” said Dubrov.
“To play a final again against an American at the US Open is really tough, there is such big pressure all the time in this stadium. I usually take some Advil [Ibuprofen] every time because I just cannot help it and she’s on the court there alone, against everyone. As she said, she’s proud of herself and the whole team is really proud of her.”
Despite missing Wimbledon with a shoulder injury, Sabalenka has already locked down her qualification for the WTA Finals in Riyadh, thanks to her title runs at the Australian Open, Cincinnati, and US Open, so far this season.
The 26 year old, who is on a 12-match winning streak, will now shift her focus to the Asian swing, where she is scheduled to compete in both Beijing and Wuhan.
Sabalenka, who spent a total of eight weeks last year at the summit of the world rankings, currently trails top-ranked Iga Swiatek by a little over 2,000 points and has a chance of returning to the No 1 spot by the end of this campaign.
“The goal is first to be fit and healthy, because it’s going to take a while to recover. The main goal for us this season is to finish on a high note,” said Dubrov.
“Right now, I would say we can talk about the No 1 spot, to finish the year as No 1 is a really cool goal. But as I said, this [run in New York] took so much energy and emotions so first of all we need to also learn how we can recover as fast as we can and set those goals.
“Because everyone has goals and says, ‘I want to win four Slams and finish No 1’. That’s a cool goal and you can do it but it just takes you a while to manage it.”
With the Grand Slam season officially over, this is the first year since 2014 there has not been a first-time major champion in women’s singles.
Sabalenka added two majors to take her total tally to three, Swiatek claimed a fifth Grand Slam title by triumphing at Roland Garros and Barbora Krejcikova reigned supreme at Wimbledon to become a two-time major singles champion.
Most of the biggest tournaments on the WTA tour have been dominated by top-10 players, signalling a state of stability that had eluded the women’s game for several years. Dubrov knows that can all change very quickly though.
“I would love to say 'yes, it’s more stable', but there are also a lot of girls I can see on tour that are really, really close to getting there. So yes, for now yes, you can see more stability at the top. But at the same time, it’s more about, if some of the top players – even for us it’s the same – they stop improving at some point, they’re going to be replaced pretty soon,” he said.
And what does Sabalenka need to work on to keep herself ahead of the chasing pack? “Everything,” he replied. “Honestly, like everything. Starting with the movement, with the mental part also, there are things she can improve. She’s much better but she can still improve.
“And the technical part you never stop. Because there is always room to improve. And as you can see from all the champions, from their careers, the way they were on top all the time, if you look how they were at 18 and how they were at 35, it’s like two completely different people, so there’s always something to improve.”
