Extravagant shoot: Sabalenka on cloud 7

The extroverted tennis player posed in the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in a strikingly decorated pink dress and blue high-heeled shoes, always close to her: the silver trophy for the Grand Slam tournament victory. “I like posing – especially as a Grand Slam champion. “It’s the best morning of my life,” said the Belarusian on Sunday, beaming with joy: “I still feel like I’m on another planet.”

The fact that her name was engraved on the trophy, but not that of her home country Belarus, hardly diminished Sabalenka's joy. Before the hard court tournament in Melbourne, she said that she felt as a neutral athlete, as if she came “from nowhere”. But after two exhilarating weeks of success with a happy ending in the exciting final on Saturday, none of that mattered anymore.

Sabalenka with clear statements “I think everyone still knows that I am a Belarusian player,” she said after the 4:6, 6:3, 6:4 win in the high-class final against Kazakh Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina. Because of the war of aggression in Ukraine, Sabalenka, like all Belarusian and Russian athletes, was only allowed to play under a neutral flag, after they even missed Wimbledon six months ago because of it. That was “terrible,” she said at the end of December, “because no one supports the war, no one.”

Aryna Sabalenka posed for the photographers. © APA/afp / WILLIAM WEST

But the 24-year-old didn't want to let feelings like satisfaction or even revenge spoil her mood. Sabalenka held the trophy in her arms like a baby. The permanent grin never left her face after the great victory, which was also one over herself. She wanted to reward herself with “good pizza” and “a lot of sweets,” “and maybe a little champagne,” Sabalenka said in the press conference. She sipped a glass of the fizzy alcoholic beverage and joked, "That's a good one, that'll be fun."

A worthy winner The first Grand Slam tournament of the year ended with a worthy winner. Of her total 524 points, the extremely dominant Sabalenka scored 247 with direct winning strokes. In the thrilling finale, she didn't let herself be put off by the loss of the first set, in which she revealed a weakness in her serve that she had long thought she had overcome. In the past, her emotions often guided her, but now it's the other way around. “Every time I had a difficult moment on the pitch, I reminded myself that I am good enough to solve all of this.”

In addition to the first major title and the prize money equivalent to around 1,95 million euros, Sabalenka can also look forward to being promoted to second place in the world rankings. Now she wants to oust the leading Iga Swiatek from Poland. Winning a major tournament is “not the last goal on my list,” announced Sabalenka. But she wants to enjoy the moment in the coming days - in her adopted home of Miami, not in Belarus.

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Extravagant shoot: Sabalenka on cloud 7

The glamorous photo shoot the day after her biggest triumph at the Australian Open was just right for Aryna Sabalenka.

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