Aryna Sabalenka dedicated her US Open victory to her family, who she said “never gave up on my dream,” after securing her third Grand Slam title during a challenging year. The world number two triumphed over Jessica Pegula 7-5, 7-5, claiming her first US Open title and adding it to her back-to-back Australian Open victories.
This Grand Slam win marked her first major title since the tragic death of her former boyfriend in March. Prior to this, she reached the quarterfinals of the French Open and missed Wimbledon due to injury. Her former boyfriend, Konstantin Koltsov, a former NHL star, died by apparent suicide at the age of 42. Additionally, five years ago, Sabalenka’s father, Sergiy, passed away from meningitis at just 43.
“After I lost my father, it has always been my goal to put our family name in the history of tennis,” said the 26-year-old Belarusian.
“Every time I see my name on that trophy, I’m so proud of myself, I’m proud of my family that they never gave up on my dream and that they were doing everything they could to keep me going.
“I had this opportunity in life so it really means a lot. It has always been my dream.”
On Saturday, Sabalenka summoned her familiar weapons of super-charged serve and brutal groundstrokes to defeat sixth-ranked Pegula.
Her 40 winners took her tournament total to 205 with 36 aces. She boasted the third fastest serve of the competition of 191.5 km/h (119 mph).
“I know that I have to go for it. That’s the only way it works for me,” said Sabalenka.
“Every time I stop my arms and the ball flies in the stands, so a long time ago I decided for myself in those important moments I just have to go for it, I have to swing.”
Pegula takes confidence
Pegula had lost in Grand Slam quarter-finals six times before finally breaking through to this year’s US Open championship match.
Four of those losses came against the eventual champions.
In 2022, she fell to Asheigh Barty at the Australian Open and to Iga Swiatek at both Wimbledon and the US Open.
At Wimbledon last year, it was Marketa Vondrousova who defeated her in the last eight before the Czech went on to capture the title.
“I’ve lost again to a really good player today,” she said on Saturday.
“I lost to girls that pretty much won the tournament every time. I had a rough start to the year and I didn’t really expect to be doing this well in the hard court swing, and I was able to kind of flip that script.”
“I will take a lot of confidence from this.”
