As Aryna Sabalenka marched towards a convincing victory over the ever-dangerous Jelena Ostapenko, she opted for a slight change of pace. Leading 6-4, 2-1 and 30-0, Sabalenka followed up a massive serve by immediately flitting to the net.
She surely had visions of her serve and volley attempt ending in triumphant Tim Henman-esque fashion, but that is not quite how things played out. She instead misjudged the path of Ostapenko’s slow, lofty return, and her shanked smash landed harmlessly on the service line. Ostapenko calmly ended the point with a forehand passing shot winner.
In her embarrassment, all the world No 1 could do was laugh, before immediately erasing the point from her mind. This was, however, the most interesting and revealing moment in her solid 6-4, 6-4 win over Ostapenko.
Sabalenka has devoted time during her training sessions in the quiet confines of the Aorangi Park practice courts to improving her serve and volley, and her attempt to execute in front of a fellow grand slam champion on Centre Court was another example of her determination to search for constant growth.
She started out on the tour as a rigid, uncompromising ball-basher, determined to hit the ball as hard as she could. Since then she has learned how to pair her raw power with greater topspin, variation, improved volleys and defence. Her game has never been so complete, and she is undoubtedly in her prime. Her mental and physical growth has earned her two undisputed years as the best player in the world.
This week that status is at risk. Over the next 10 days Sabalenka could lose her No 1 ranking for the first time since last year. Should Elena Rybakina win her second Wimbledon title, then she would usurp the Belarusian as the top-ranked player.
Back in March, when Sabalenka rolled through Indian Wells and Miami to become just the fifth woman to win the Sunshine Double, it seemed as if the gap between her and the rest of the field had never been greater. She had opened the season by winning 23 of her first 24 matches, only losing a tight final at the Australian Open to Rybakina.
But Sabalenka has not reached a final since Miami, making it to just one semi-final in the four tournaments she has played since then. In her last two events she became the first No 1 in history to lose 6-0 in the third set in consecutive matches, with her collapse against Diana Shnaider in the quarter-finals of Roland Garros being one of the worst losses of her career. After years of stating that she had already learned necessary lessons from her earlier work with a psychologist, she sought out her psychologist again.
Three matches into her latest campaign at Wimbledon, where she has reached the semi-finals on three occasions but nothing more, Sabalenka looks solid. Ostapenko remains an incredibly challenging player on her day, as she showed last year by dismantling Sabalenka in the final of the Stuttgart Open on clay. The Latvian looks to eviscerate every last ball, always searching for the lines. Most of all, she is a grand slam champion. Nobody will ever take her unforgettable run through the 2017 French Open draw away from her, and it remains irrefutable proof that she can defeat anyone.
For the most part Sabalenka dominated Ostapenko thanks to her sharpness on the first shot of every point, pairing her excellent serving throughout the match with the relentless pace and depth of her return of serve. After Sabalenka established a 6-4, 5-1 lead, Ostapenko forced herself back into the match and charged Sabalenka with closing it out on her serve at 5-4. Under real pressure for the first time in the match, she served brilliantly to round out an impressive win and continue to build momentum.
“She’s really dangerous and in the last match I played against her, I couldn’t do anything,” said Sabalenka. “She just smashed me off the court. I’m really happy that I was able to get this win, especially in straight setsThe plan is to get better every day and to bring a little bit better level every time I’m competing on this beautiful grass.”
By the time Ostapenko and Sabalenka entered Centre Court, it was already certain that the winner of this match-up between grand slam champions would face another. Earlier on No 1 Court, Naomi Osaka continued her supreme form by reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time in her career, thanks to another emphatic win, this time defeating Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-3.
While Osaka’s walk-on outfits continue to dominate the overall sporting conversation, the most impressive thing about the Japanese player remains her form. She retired from the Bad Homburg final due to a foot injury while trailing Karolina Muchova 6-1, 1-0, but otherwise she has now won seven matches over the past two weeks, each without dropping a set. She will head into the fourth round desperate for another big win.
