The morning after Aryna Sabalenka won her second consecutive Australian Open, her hotel room is in chaos. You can forgive her for not cleaning up; After just a few hours of sleep and a long night of partying over sour gummy bears and champagne, Sabalenka’s room is once again included in the set for her digital cover shoot with Fashion Australia, for which she is styled in a selection of Australian designers (Christopher Esber, Camilla & Marc, Dion Lee) and her trusty, trophy-winning cherry red Nike sneakers. “I really like photo shoots,” grins Sabalenka, zipping into a Zimmermann second-skin skirt. “Right now, with the professionals, I feel like I’m doing a terrible job,” she jokes. “I think I need to take some classes and learn some things about posing.”
There are clothes everywhere in her hotel room; Nike bags are scattered across the floor. Along the window overlooking downtown Melbourne are bouquets of flowers (several) – from her boyfriend, the hockey player Konstantin Koltsov; from the hotel – a bottle of Piper Heidsick champagne and a pristine, untouched chocolate cake in the shape of a tennis court, making her the 2024 Australian Open champion. The whole room smells like sugar.
On a side table lies a beautiful hand-drawn card, given to the 25-year-old multiple Grand Slam champion that morning by a young girl. “Congratulations winner,” the card exclaims, the Australian Open trophy displayed in fluorescent yellow highlighter. “She asked a few questions about what advice I could give her and who my inspiration was growing up,” Sabalenka said. “She saw my match yesterday and she loved it. She was so kind to me.”
Sabalenka rides incredibly high. On Saturday night she defended her Australian Open title in just 76 minutes, a fast and furious match decided in straight, demanding sets. Sabalenka fell behind Zheng Qinwen in the final, second only to Qinwen’s. But Sabalenka’s play was methodical and dynamic, helping the Belarusian complete a 6-3, 6-2 win in just over an hour of play. Australia is undoubtedly Sabalenka’s lucky charm; she won her very first Grand Slam singles final here last year, in a match that went to the extreme. Over the past 12 months she has reached the semi-finals at every Grand Slam and played some of her best tennis, but her victory lap in Melbourne was astonishing. This century, only Ash Barty has dropped fewer matches on his way to Australian Open glory. Put it this way: Sabalenka hasn’t lost a match at Rod Laver Arena since 2021.
