At last, the Tiger rules in the concrete jungle. After two semi-finals defeats and that agonising loss to Coco Gauff in last year’s final, Aryna Sabalenka finally got her paws on the US Open trophy.
It was the New York crowd, as much as Gauff, that did for Sabalenka last year but here against another American in Jessica Pegula, she handled the occasion far better and won 7-5, 7-5.
This is her third Grand Slam title — after two Australian Opens — and at the age of 26, Sabalenka is maturing into a truly complete player.
Iga Swiatek may be world No 1 but, aside from her fiefdom of Roland Garros, Sabalenka will start as favourite for the other three Grand Slams in 2025.
Modern tennis is lamentably short of nicknames but Sabalenka has a tattoo of a tiger on her left forearm and, with her awesome power and bloodcurdling roar, that describes her perfectly.
Aryna Sabalenka has won the US Open, beating American Jessica Pegula in straight sets
Sabalenka paid tribute to beaten finalist Pegaula, who was cheered on by a home crowd
Sabalenka dropped to the floor after winning her first US Open title on Saturday night
A Grand Slam tradition has been for Sabalenka to sign coach Jason Stacy’s bald head after each win. For the final they went a step further as Stacy appeared with a matching tiger tattoo on his scalp – one hopes to god it is not permanent.
But what a job Stacy, Sabalenka and the rest of the team have done over the last year or so. Always a frightening talent Sabalenka in the past has been erratic and emotionally volatile.
Here she kept her head in the Arthur Ashe cauldron, even as Pegula came back from 3-0 down in the second set to lead 5-3.
She has added so much to her game and it was her ability to change the pace of a point with a slice, spring a surprise drop shot or rush the net that was the difference in this match.
One leaping backhand overhead of which her fellow Tiger Tim Henman would have been proud helped her turn the tide and break back as Pegula served for the second set.
That levelled the scores at 5-5 and from there Sabalenka surged to victory.
She collapsed in a heap of tears and laid a kiss upon the court which has been the scene of more near misses than any other in her career.
Then she sent another kiss up to the heavens for her father, who died in 2019. Her ex-boyfriend, Konstantin Koltsov, also died by suicide in Miami in March this year.
Pegula competed extremely well but such is the force of the Sabalenka game and the magnetism of her personality, her opponent can appear a bystander to the one-woman show. The match rests on her racket; the energy of the contest pulses to her thumping heartbeat.
