It was raining torrentially outside the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Saturday, but under the roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium, lightning didn’t strike twice.
With a breathtaking display of tennis and persistence, Aryna Sabalenka won her third major and first U.S. Open, beating Jessica Pegula in an electrifying final, 7–5, 7–5. Apart from the triumph today, this will go a long way toward exorcising the demons of last year, when Sabalenka also played an American in Coco Gauff and won the first set before faltering.
Today, she brought to bear her unrivaled power—this is a player who hits the hardest forehand in tennis, male or female—with real poise and an ability to reset. After jumping out to a 5–2 lead in the first set with unanswerable ball striking, Sabalenka lost three games in a row and seemed rattled. She recovered, however, to close out the set, 7–5.
The second set played out to a similar rhythm. Sabalenka won the first three games and appeared to be cruising to the title but then went off the boil while Pegula found both the range on her strokes and her confidence. Suddenly, Pegula led 5–3 after ripping off five straight games. Sabalenka recovered, however, and won the last four games. When she watched match point sail beyond her past the baseline, she dropped to her knees and began crying, a reflection of how much this title meant so much to her, particularly after last year’s shortcoming.
ARYNA SABALENKA REIGNS SUPREME IN NEW YORK! pic.twitter.com/rVEGvuBMe4
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 7, 2024
Though she remains No. 2 in the rankings, let’s be clear: Sabalenka is the 2024 MVP. She won two majors as well as the Cincinnati event in August. An injury prevented her from advancing at Roland Garros, and she didn’t enter Wimbledon due to the same injury. One wonders what she would’ve achieved at full health.
Bigger picture, this is a player who was long known just for her power and volatility. You never knew what you were going to get, not unlike Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates. But what you did know was that she lacked the consistency to string together seven straight wins. How times have changed.
Over the last 30 months, she’s emerged as the most consistent player in women’s tennis, is reliable to go deep into events and, three times in the last 18 months, has won the big trophy.
On the other side of the net, Pegula will be disappointed not to win her first major, but with some perspective—and she has plenty of it—she will call this a breakthrough. At age 30, she’s shown that she still has plenty of good tennis left to play. Seventy-two hours ago, she reached her first major semifinal. She then backed that up with a three-set win to get to her first major title. While she didn't win the title Saturday, she made the best player in the world work for it and showed plenty of offense to match her typically strong defense.
Sabalenka will move into 2025 as the player to beat, rankings be damned. And she’s done it all without compromising her personality. She remains expressive and uninhibited, sometimes to her detriment. This is not a player who wears a poker face on the court. But she’s shown that you can play winning tennis while keeping a winning personality, and at age 26, you have the feeling she’s only warming up.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Aryna Sabalenka Cements Her Place Atop Women’s Tennis With U.S. Open Win.
