A match made in heaven?
Seeking guidance after struggling with double faults, Aryna Sabalenka has turned to Mark Philippoussis — perhaps one of the top servers in tennis history.
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And if Sabalenka proceeds to open her Grand Slam account at Australian Open 2022, a big assist indeed might go to the Australian nicknamed "Scud" due to his serving missiles.
Sabalenka scraped through the first round on Tuesday against fast-improving wildcard Storm Sanders, overturning a set and 3-1 deficit against the Queensland native to prevail 5-7 6-3 6-2.
The world No.2 hit 12 double faults to lift her season tally to 51 in three outings — the other two came in Adelaide in back-to-back losses to Kaja Juvan and Rebecca Peterson — but settled in the third set. Her tally shrunk to two in the pivotal decider.
Sabalenka revealed that Philippoussis reached out to her in Adelaide after witnessing her serving foibles.
The 1998 US Open finalist and 2003 Wimbledon finalist — Philippoussis stood on the other side of the net when Roger Federer clinched his maiden major — had been in Adelaide on TV duty.
"After my second match he just wrote me, like, 'Well, girl, just stop thinking a lot on your serve'," Sabalenka told reporters.
"He said, like, if you have some time today after (your) last match, because he was commentating there … we can go out on the court, I can help you.
"And, yeah, I think at 9pm or 8pm, we went on court and we served a lot and he gave me some tips about what should I focus on during the game when I'm struggling with my serve.
"And my coach was there. They had a nice conversation. We had a nice conversation. I'm really thankful to him for this help because that's what helped me in the match to just survive there."
Sabalenka seemed to suggest it wasn't the first time the two had been in touch regarding her serve.
"I remember a few years ago at Wimbledon I was struggling with my serve and I saw him serving and I loved the way he was serving when he was playing," said Sabalenka.
"I just went to him and asking like, ‘Hey, I have some troubles with my serve. Can you help me, please?' And he helped me and, yeah, my serve started working again."
The feisty yet often smiling Sabalenka revealed she worked on the serve in the off-season with coach Anton Dubrov, and all appeared fine.
"We worked a lot on serve. But it's not about my serve. If you see me serving on practice court, it's perfect. It's amazing serve. I think it's all about in here," she explained, pointing to her head.
Against Sanders, she became more comfortable on serve the longer the match went – and it showed.
"I was thinking a lot on my serve. I tried to control everything and this is not how it works," she said.
"I have muscle memory and I just have to trust myself, and that's what I did in the middle of the second set."
Sabalenka turned a significant corner at Grand Slams last year, making the semifinals at Wimbledon and US Open to match her results away from majors.
But her results lagged while the double faults soared after returning to action in October following a bout of Covid.
She will hope her serve co-operates against world No.100 Wang Xinyu, a former junior No.2, in the second round on Thursday.