Aryna Sabalenka dedicates US Open win to family ‘who never gave up’ on dream

NEW YORK – Tenacious tiger-tattooed Aryna Sabalenka has embodied the spirit of her favourite animal en route to winning the US Open title, but there is also a softer side to the Belarusian.

On Sept 7, the world No. 2 dedicated her victory to her family who “never gave up on my dream” after a third Grand Slam title was achieved in a year of personal torment.

The 26-year-old defeated American Jessica Pegula 7-5, 7-5 to add a maiden New York singles crown to her back-to-back Australian Open titles.

This US Open was the first Grand Slam she had won since the death of her former boyfriend in March – she had reached only the last eight at the French Open and missed Wimbledon with injury.

Ice hockey player Konstantin Koltsov, once a star in the National Hockey League, died from apparent suicide at the age of 42. Five years ago, Sabalenka’s father Sergey died of 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 Sabalenka.

“Every time I see my name on the trophy, I’m super 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.”

Sabalenka summoned her familiar weapons of supercharged serve and brutal groundstrokes to defeat sixth-ranked Pegula. Her 40 winners took her tournament total to 205, together with 36 aces. She also boasted the third-fastest serve of the competition of 191.5kmh.

“I know that I have to go for it. That’s the only way it works for me,” said the Belarusian. “A long time ago I decided for myself in those important moments I just have to go for it, I have to swing.”

She dropped only one set on the road to the final and downed Pegula after finishing runner-up last season to her opponent’s compatriot Coco Gauff. She had two previous singles semi-final appearances at Flushing Meadows, as well as Grand Slam doubles titles with Belgian Elise Mertens at the Australian Open (2021) and US Open (2019).

“I faced a lot of challenges on and off the court,” Sabalenka added.

“So many times I thought I was so close to get the US Open title... and finally I got this beautiful trophy.

“That’s why it’s very special, because no matter what, every time I was coming back stronger and I was learning. I never gave up on this dream, and yeah, you know, it means a lot.”

Pegula’s defeat, meanwhile, came during a roller-coaster year for the former world No. 3.

After complaining of feeling burnt out after the Australian Open where she lost in the second round, the 30-year-old was laid low by a rib injury which forced her to sit out the European clay-court swing, including Roland Garros.

She marked her return to action by winning the grass-court title in Berlin.

After second-round losses at Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics, Pegula raced to the Toronto title and finished runner-up to Sabalenka in Cincinnati in the build-up to the US Open.

She ended the US summer hard-court season with 15 wins in 17 matches and her dream run in New York will lift her to a career-high-matching No. 3 in the world.

Pegula had lost in Grand Slam quarter-finals six times before finally breaking through to the US Open championship match. But it was not meant to be for her in the end.

“I’ve lost again to a really good player today,” she said.

“I lost to girls that pretty much won the tournament every time (four of her last-eight losses came against the eventual champions). 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.

“So I will take a lot of confidence from this.” AFP, REUTERS