Aryna Sabalenka makes champagne dreams come true with 2025 US Open win

NEW YORK—Aryna Sabalenka has waited a long time to celebrate a Grand Slam victory in 2025.

The world No. 1 fell just short of the trophy at all three major tournaments coming into the US Open—making two finals and one semifinal at the Australian Open, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon, respectively—making Saturday’s win over Amanda Anisimova all the sweeter when she arrived for her post-match press conference.

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Carrying a bottle of Moët & Chandon and wearing matching ski goggles across her forehead, Sabalenka skillfully balanced work and play as she fielded questions from the media in the wake of her fourth Grand Slam title:

Q. I want to ask, you were playing a lot of defense in a lot of points today, and Amanda was dictating a lot of rallies. She had more winners than unforced errors than you, not usual for you. You are usually much more dominant. How easy was it for you to respond to that kind of game? And also, I'm curious how much Champagne you've already had today?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Well, actually, I didn't have much. We were just, how you call it, spraying it out.

Actually (taking a drink), Cheers, Guys.

Well, I cannot be serious right now. But going to this match, I knew what to expect. She's aggressive player. She plays really aggressive tennis, and I think that at Wimbledon I was overthinking. I was doubting my decisions, and I was stopping my arms a lot, and I was making a lot of mistakes. If not mistake, that I would just slow down the speed, and then she would just step in and go for her winners.

So going into this match, I knew that it's going to be very fast game, very aggressive. I was just trying to stay as low as possible, and I was just trying to, you know, put that speed, that pressure back on her and see how she can handle it.

Sabalenka indeed handled the pressure against Anisimova, shaking off a missed opportunity to close out the match at 5-3 in the second set by winning a 19th straight tiebreaker under the Arthur Ashe Stadium roof, becoming the first woman since Serena Williams to defend her US Open title.

“After Australia Open, I thought that the right way would be just to forget it and move on, but then the same thing happened at the French Open,” said Sabalenka, who lost two heartbreaking finals to Madison Keys and Coco Gauff. “Som after French Open I figured that, ‘Okay, maybe it's time for me to sit back and to look at those finals and to maybe learn something, because I didn't want it to happen again and again and again.’

“So, yeah, I was in Mykonos, reading my book, enjoying the view, and I was just thinking that why would I let my emotions to take control over me in those two finals? It felt like I thought that, ‘Okay, if I made it to the final, it means that I'm going to win it, you know, and I sort of didn't expect players to come out there and to fight.’ You know, I thought that everything going to go easily my way, which was completely wrong mindset, you know?

“Going into this final I decided for myself that I'm going to control my emotions. I'm not going to let them take control over me, and doesn't matter what happens in the match. If she break me back or if she plays incredible tennis—of course, it's a finals, and she's going to be fighting, especially after recent final, I knew that she would love to have, like, a better result. My mindset was just going out there, fight for every point. Doesn't matter of the situation. Just focus on myself and focus on things that I have to do to win the match.

“I think from what I understand today, that the lesson learned and I really hope it will never happen again if I'm going to be playing another finals, that I will be more in control.”

Sabalenka will bring that renewed since of control into the Asian Swing, where she will compete to finish a second straight season atop the WTA rankings—and earn another bottle of champagne.