Tennis in tangle as ‘neutral’ Sabalenka wins her first Slam

THE tennis world’s policy of allowing players from outlawed nations to carry on competing yielded its first ‘neutral’ champion at the Australian Open.

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus may not have a flag by her name but now she has a first Grand Slam trophy, presented to her by Billie Jean King.

The image will not sit comfortably with all amid the current global turmoil but it should be said that, seen through the prism of tennis alone, her triumph was welldeserved after an excellent final.

She defeated Moscow-born Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two-and-a-half hours, and, having suffered from nerves on the big occasion throughout her career, she held it together to clinch victory on a fourth match point.

It was her serve that carried her home, somewhat poignantly for a player who has endured bouts of the yips on her second serve. She served 56 double faults in making the fourth round at Melbourne Park last year. This was not, in truth, a match-up to capture the wider imagination or provide a much-needed boost to the women’s game. Yet the quality of tennis elevated it above any indifference that might have been felt.

Since the invasion of Ukraine that her government has assisted in, Sabalenka has stayed neutral, asking what she is meant to do about it as an athlete with relatives living in Belarus.

There was no awkwardness when she picked up the trophy, which had her name engraved on it but not followed by that of her country.

She was reluctant to comment on that, saying: ‘I think everyone knows that I am a Belarus player and that’s it. I think people (there) will be proud of me.’

In terms of the tennis, she was emotional in the immediate aftermath of the match, having finally delivered on the physical talent which always suggested a major was within range.

‘It really was the best match that I have played. I was just happy that I was able to handle all the emotions in the last game,’ she said, having seen her first attempt at match point end in a double fault.

Both these players strike the ball with enormous power. In Sabalenka’s case she is able to call on a strapping physique, while the slighter figure of Rybakina relies more on acute timing, as she showed at Wimbledon.

Sabalenka’s dreaded double faults struck in the first set when she delivered five of them, but her second serve improved thereafter and the points she was able to win on that turned the match around.

She was able to muscle her way back into the contest, and from a long way out it was clear that if she held her nerve she would win the match.

BRITAIN’S Alfie Hewett won his first Australian Open wheelchair singles — his seventh Grand Slam title — as he defeated 16-year-old Tokito Oda of Japan 6-3, 6-1, adding to the doubles title he won with fellow Briton Gordon Reid on Friday.