Of all the magnificent qualities Aryna Sabalenka possesses, perhaps the most significant is her ability to rebound from setbacks and come out on top.
Her service yips of three years ago, which ravaged her at Australian Open 2022? She retooled her delivery, and returned at AO 2023 to serve out the final and win her first Grand Slam trophy.
Her loss from a set up against Coco Gauff in the 2023 US Open final? She beat Gauff at the very next major before defending her AO title, then returned to New York in 2024 and emerged as the champion there, too.
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We saw that resilience again throughout 2025, during which she spent every week atop the rankings to end her second straight season at world No.1.
After losing to Gauff in a heartbreaking Roland Garros final, she beat the American in straight sets when they next met at the WTA Finals. After falling to Amanda Anisimova in three sets in the Wimbledon semis, she met Anisimova again in the US Open final, adjusted her approach and reversed the result to win her fourth major title.
It’s a distinct pattern, which bodes well for Sabalenka when she competes at Australian Open 2026.
She was so close to an historic victory at AO 2025. At 5-5 in the deciding set of the final against Madison Keys, Sabalenka was on the brink of becoming the first woman since Martina Hingis, 26 years earlier, to win three straight singles titles at Melbourne Park.
Yet Keys completed a fairytale 6-3 2-6 7-5 victory, snapping Sabalenka’s 20-match Australian Open winning streak while delivering her a first defeat at Rod Laver Arena in four years.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Sabalenka overwhelmed Keys 6-0 6-1 when they next met in the Indian Wells semifinals. “I needed this revenge badly, so I was really focused, and I think tactically I played really great tennis,” she revealed.
Memories of that AO final against Keys will no doubt ensure she possesses that same focus when she returns to Melbourne Park in January.
“I don’t want to be too harsh, but that is down to Aryna, that we’ve had four different Slam champions [in 2025]. Because she has been the best player of the year,” said former pro-turned-commentator Naomi Cavaday, on the Tennish podcast.
“And you absolutely could have conceived her winning all four, in terms of the level she’s been able to produce. She is the No.1 in the world, and I do think there is some distance between her and everybody else. Her consistency is incredible.
“We know about her record over Slams; absolutely astronomical. Like, she just does not lose early, she doesn’t blow out in Slams.”
Should she reach the AO 2026 final, Sabalenka would become the first woman to reach four consecutive AO finals since Hingis, who played in six straight finals from 1997 to 2002.
It would also mark her seventh consecutive Grand Slam final on hard courts, seeing Sabalenka match Hingis and Steffi Graf for the most in the Open era among women.
Her excellence at Melbourne Park is such that Sabalenka has won 20 of her past 21 matches at the venue, dropping only four sets in that period – and two of those were to Keys.
There’s little reason to expect that sparkling record won’t extend, given the momentum she carries into season 2026. She reached nine finals in 2025 – including three Slam finals – and won four titles, winning 63 matches overall and compiling a 15-5 record against top-10 opponents.
She’s also reached the semifinal stage of better in 11 of her past 12 Grand Slam appearances, dating back to the 2022 US Open.
Sabalenka’s sustained success and consistency has been helped by the texture and dimension she’s added to her game. The venomous serve and brute power remain, but now there’s more shape and margin to her shots, a wicked drop shot, improved movement and athleticism, and a greater willingness to adjust tactically within matches.
The missing piece, she said after losing in the WTA Finals title match to Elena Rybakina, was better regulation of her emotions.
“The good thing [is] that I’m always there,” Sabalenka said of her ability to reach finals. “The bad thing [is] that this season I lost most of the biggest finals I made.
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“I guess I’ll just sit back… and think back and try to analyse my maybe behaviour, my emotions, and think that actually it’s been pretty good so far.
“I just need to get a little bit better, push myself a little bit more, and hopefully next season I’ll improve.”