Indian Wells 2023: Aryna Sabalenka Takes Riviera by Storm with Unmatched Stroke!
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Twelve months ago, Aryna Sabalenka softened the disappointment of a second consecutive loss in the BNP Paribas Open final with humor. The runner-up’s trophy is a miniature replica of the winner’s — an opulent, Baccarat crystal sculpture, so heavy it requires a sturdy heave from any champion privileged to lift it.
Sabalenka joked that if she stacked her two runner-up trophies on top of each other, she might be able to convince herself she had won the real thing. It was a good line from someone who appreciates bling, as evidenced by the luxe engagement ring she debuted ahead of her first-round match last week. But the runner-up trophies Sabalenka has collected throughout her career have come to represent pain so visceral that when she arrives on the doorstep of a championship, she speaks about wanting to avoid the ache of loss more than she does her desire to win.
For a player with a game as devastating as Sabalenka’s, a 22-20 record in finals — many of them lost in agonizing ways — feels much more dire than it is. But in beating Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(6) on Sunday, to win her first Indian Wells title in a puzzle box of a match, Sabalenka took a step toward constantly seizing the big moments that she creates more often than any of her peers. “I said before going to this final, I am so tired of losing these big finals,” Sabalenka said in her news conference.
“Players were playing incredible tennis, but still I managed to fight through and to get my opportunity, and I didn’t use it so many times. “So in this final … I was just trying to find something, find a way to get this win for myself, to feel more confident going into the next final. ” Sunday’s win reinforced Sabalenka’s mental and physical fortitude in a match played in 95-degree heat, less than a year after she imploded in the French Open final against Coco Gauff , before blaming her loss to the American on rainy, windy conditions and her own poor play.
Sabalenka’s deceptively controlled aggression, into which she appears to pour her entire being, means she could never be credibly given the moniker of “ball basher. ” But at Indian Wells, she showed just how much she has diversified her game by mixing in instinctive net play and adding drop shots to her arsenal. She beat the old guard of hard-court tennis, Naomi Osaka, with little complication and plenty of variety in the fourth round.
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