Sabalenka’s Sunshine Dominance

This article is the cover story for the May/June 2026 edition of New York Tennis Magazine. Click Here to read the full digital edition

At the early part of the 2026 tennis season, Aryna Sabalenka suffered one of the more difficult defeats of her remarkable career.

In the championship match of the Australian Open, the top-ranked player in the world who hails from Belarus was in pursuit of her fifth career major title, and her third Aussie crown in the last four years. She dropped the opening set but stormed back to take the second set, and raced out to a 3-0 lead in the decider.

“I was [up] 3-love. I just lost my focus, and it was then 3-4,” Sabalenka said in her post-match press conference. “She did a better job of handling that pressure moment, that’s for sure. Of course I have regrets. You know, when you lead 3-love, and then it felt like in a few seconds it was 3-4 and I was down a break.

It was very fast. [It was] great tennis from her. Maybe not so smart for me, but as I say, today I’m a loser, maybe tomorrow I’m a winner.”

The defeat marked the fourth time she has lost in a major final, and the third time since the 2025 Australian Open, but as indicated in her response during the press conference, she has developed a mindset that allows her to move past these defeats.

“Overall, it was much better than last year, [the] two finals I lost. Level-wise and decisions that I was making and the way that mentality was throughout the whole match that I was still there, I was ready to fight,” she explained. “So I think overall I made [a] huge improvement on that, and I still lost it. But it’s okay. I feel like I’m moving towards the right direction.”

That positive outlook on even the most difficult of defeats has served Sabalenka well, and amost immediately produced the kind of results she was looking for as she left Melbourne. Sabalenka arrived at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells hungry to be the last player standing at tournament’s end.

She powered her way into the finals without dropping a set and as fate would have it, the player standing in her way of her first championship in the California desert: Elena Rybakina.

Things did not start off well for Sabalenka, as she dropped the first set and had to channel that fighting mindset she alluded to in her Australian Open press conference. She rallied to claim the second set, and had a chance to serve for the championship at 5-4 in the deciding set.

Sabalenka was broken, and then coughed up five break points in the ensuing 5-5 game. She bounced back to hold at 5-6, sending the finals into a third-set tiebreaker.

“In that 5–all game, I was really upset each time I would miss her second serve. I felt like I had a lot of opportunities in that game that I didn’t use,” Sabalenka said. “I didn’t feel my best after that game. But what I’m happy with is that in the next one I was able to pull out great serves to get that game and get into the tiebreak.”

Instead of dwelling on those missed opportunities, Sabalenka cherished the chance she had to win it in a tiebreaker. She saved one championship point, but regained control to win it 8-6, and win her first Indian Wells title, as well as avenge her defeat to Rybakina just weeks prior.

“I am so tired of losing these big finals. I mean don’t get me wrong, players were playing incredible tennis, but still I managed to fight through and to get my opportunity, and I didn’t use it so many times,” said Sabalenka. “In this final, the way I started the first set and then the first game of the second set, I was really not happy with that, and I was just trying to find something, find a way to get this win for myself to feel more confident going into the next final.”

The win capped off an incredible week for Sabalenka as the trophy wasn’t the only thing she added to her possession. She got an engagement ring placed on her finger from her boyfriend, Brazilian businessman Georgios Frangulis, and also welcomed a new puppy, Ash.

“What a week: Getting engaged, getting a puppy and winning a title,” she said. “I will definitely remember it for the rest of my life.”

Sabalenka’s excellent beginning to the spring season continued with her run to the Miami Open title, defeating Rybakina in the semifinals along the way, to complete the prestigious “Sunshine Double”, winning in both Indian Wells and Miami.

In doing so, Sabalenka defended her Miami Open title from 2025 and became the fifth woman to ever complete the Sunshine Double.

“It means a lot,” Sabalenka said. “My goal has always been to put my name in the history, and I just did it. It just sounds so unreal. I don’t know how I was able to achieve that, but I’m super proud right now. Of course, of course, super happy with this beautiful trophy.”

Sabalenka has a firm grip on the world number one ranking, and has well-established herself as the best player in the women’s game. She has few things left to prove, except perhaps to win a major title off of the hard courts.

She will have an opportunity to do that this spring when she heads to Europe for both the French Open and Wimbledon, the two major titles she has yet to win. Her four career majors all came on hard courts, two in Australia and two in New York, but she has not been the last player standing on the Roland Garros clay or the grass of the All-England Club. A three-time semifinalist at Wimbledon and a one-time finalist at the French Open are excellent results, but Sabalenka has higher aspirations.

Much has happened in Sabalenka’s life and career thus far in 2026, and there is still so much to go. Sabalenka is the undisputed face of the women’s tennis game, and she will have plenty of opportunities to bolster that status throughout this season.