MELBOURNE, Australia: One point away from her first Grand Slam title, Aryna Sabalenka faulted. And then she faulted again. She grimaced.
She yelled and turned her back to the court. She wiggled her shoulders and exhaled. Clearly, this business of winning the Australian Open was not bound to happen without a bit of a struggle Saturday night.
Sabalenka knew deep inside that would be the case. She also knew that all of the effort she put in, to overcome self-doubt and those dreaded double-faults, had to pay off eventually.
Just had to. And so, as she wasted a second match point by flubbing a forehand, and a third by again missing another, Sabalenka did her best to stay calm, something she used to find quite difficult.
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