Sabalenka Acknowledges Rybakina's Superior Play in US Open Final

Sabalenka was aiming to secure her third consecutive US Open title, a feat accomplished by only two women since 1968, but was hindered by her own errors throughout the match. The top-seeded player, who will relinquish her World No. 1 ranking to Rybakina next week, struggled with her performance, making more unforced errors than winners. Early in the first set, she displayed her frustration by hitting a ball out of the stadium and bouncing her racquet on the court multiple times.

She managed only three break point opportunities, all during a late surge in the second set. In contrast, Rybakina delivered a strong performance with 12 aces, 36 winners, and 24 unforced errors. Sabalenka admitted, "I'm obviously not really happy with the level I played today, but she served incredible. She played really aggressive, great tennis. Yeah, she was simply a better player today than me."

Despite a challenging season with matches often ending in disappointment, Sabalenka remains determined. Commenting on the pressure of being a top player, she said, "I think any time when you go out there, you have a target on your back. It doesn't matter if you are No. 1, No. 2, 3, or 4. I'll just keep working hard and keep improving my tennis."

Looking ahead, Sabalenka aims to use this experience to come back stronger next season, stating, "There's lots of things to take from this tournament. This season made me stronger and motivated for the next year to do a better job." Although she leads their all-time head-to-head with Rybakina 10-8, she is aware of her rival's strength in title matches, where Rybakina leads 5-2.

After being informed of her 99 consecutive weeks as the World No. 1, making it a total of 107 weeks in her career, she quipped about preserving a competitive edge, saying, "Let's see if Elena can beat me in that. But if she continues to play like that, then yeah, I'm in trouble."