Aryna Sabalenka often appears to treat the scoreboard with disdain. Break point, set point, 30-30 – it all seems the same to the Belarusian. So long as she is middling the ball, so long as she is landing the almighty blows that are her calling card, she appears confident she will prevail.
It is, of course, an illusion. You don’t get to No 2 in the world, or reach Wimbledon and US Open semi-finals, merely by being a human howitzer. Witness the canny way in which Sabalenka dealt with a sudden change of pace by Maria Sakkari midway through the opening set of their do-or-die showdown for a place in the last four at the WTA Finals, patiently trading sliced backhands before whipping an outrageous cross-court forehand for a winner to hold serve.
The bludgeon nonetheless remains Sabalenka’s weapon of choice and, against Sakkari, why not? She had, after all, won four of her five previous meetings with the Greek, including the past four in a row. Having blown Sakkari off the court in Abu Dhabi at the start of the year for the loss of just five games, Sabalenka had no reason to believe that her trademark approach would not once again reap dividends. This, however, was a very different Sakkari, a player who also has two grand slam semi-finals to her name this season, who has shaken off the counter-puncher tag, who has learned to harness her physicality in the cause of a more aggressive style of play.
As Sabalenka was to discover to her cost, it sometimes pays to play the score against such a player. There is a time and a place for taking a massive cut at a ball that sits up invitingly after clipping the net, and it is not when you have a set point on your opponent’s serve at 5-4 in the opener, having just been broken by some inspired play from the opposite side of the net. Sabalenka hardly needs to be told as much, but while she reacted furiously after lashing the ball into the alley, beating her thigh in frustration, it did not stop her clubbing a backhand wide after Sakkari had worked her way to game point. It did not stop her from overhitting her second serve as a pair of double faults left her trailing 4-1 in the first-set tiebreak. Nor did it give her pause when, having again broken for 5-3 in the second set, she once more let set points go begging, twice thrashing backhands long.
In fairness, Sabalenka wouldn’t be Sabalenka without such moments. Her freewheeling spirit, her willingness to take risks that many of her peers would hardly dare dream of, is mesmerising, box-office stuff. In any case, she knows no other way. Up 0-15 on Sakkari’s serve at 5-5 in the second set, she tried to just roll the ball back into play and was rewarded with a timid unforced error. Merely making balls is just not her style. Predictably, the next time Sabalenka connected with the ball, it was to fire an imperious cross-court winner off a Sakkari first serve. That seemed to unnerve the Greek, who went on to gift the break to Sabalenka with some untimely errors. Once again, though, the top seed was unable to serve out the set, barely making a ball as she fell 0-40 behind. Another tiebreak followed and, although she missed a third set point at 6-5, Sakkari bravely capitalising on some tentative play by the Belarusian, Sabalenka finally prevailed at the fourth time of asking, hitting the cover off the ball to set up a one-set shootout.
The question now for Sakkari was a simple one: did she have the conviction to take down the top seed? The answer, emphatically, was yes. Having broken in the opening game of the decider as Sabalenka’s difficulties on serve continued – she would end the match with an extraordinary 19 double faults in all – Sakkari fell behind 3-1 only to reel off five successive games.
“It was a roller-coaster match from both of us,” said Sakkari, the world No 6, who will face Anett Kontaveit in the last four following her 7-6 (7-1), 6-7 (6-8), 6-3 win. “I was up a break, then she was up a break. It was just a matter of who took the chances. I think at the end I just played with my heart and fought well, just turned things around.
“I keep saying the same thing, but it’s just my fighting spirit and my belief. I really think that sometimes I deserve to win these matches because of how I approach them and how I play them.
“Last time we played was in Abu Dhabi [at the beginning of] this year. I think my level is different today to back then. Obviously, she has been having a very good season. I think I’m just closer to [the top players] now. My ranking shows that, my results show that. It’s just that I’m really getting closer to them. I proved to myself and everyone that I can beat them like I did today.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas was unable to make it a day of double celebration for Greek tennis, slumping to a 6-4, 6-4 defeat against Andrey Rublev at the ATP Finals in Turin. Rublev, the fifth seed, produced an outstanding display, winning 90% of his first-serve points, never allowing Tsitsipas a break point, and making just seven unforced errors.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Rublev. “[For the] first time ever, I’m happy with everything I did today on court, from serve, from return, from rallies from the baseline, to my mental part, how I controlled my emotions. So we’ll see if I can keep going this way.”
Next up for Rublev is Novak Djokovic, who opened his green group campaign with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 win over Casper Ruud. Addressing the crowd in Italian afterwards, the world No 1 sent social media into a frenzy when he said he planned to play for another couple of years, sparking speculation that he would retire following the 2023 season. Djokovic moved quickly to clarify his comments.
“I didn’t mean it that way,” smiled Djokovic, who was awarded the year-end No 1 trophy on court afterwards. “‘Paio d’anni’ means ‘couple of years’. I said ‘couple’, meaning I don’t know. I thought a couple of years playing at the highest level, why not? I mean, it would be great. Look, I don’t have a number in my mind of the years I still want to play at this level. I don’t have a limit. I don’t want to impose a limit to myself at all, because I still enjoy playing tennis, and I really enjoy competition and playing at the highest level. Being No 1 in the world, there is no reason for me yet to think about leaving tennis.”