The morning after Aryna Sabalenka won her second consecutive Australian Open, her hotel room is chaos. You can forgive her for not tidying up; after only a few hours of sleep and a long night of celebrating over sour gummy bears and champagne, Sabalenka’s room has been retconned into the set for her digital cover shoot with Vogue Australia, for which she is being styled in a roster of Australian designers (Christopher Esber, Camilla & Marc, Dion Lee) and her trusty, trophy-winning cherry red Nike sneakers. “I actually love doing photoshoots,” Sabalenka grins, as she is zipped into a second-skin Zimmermann skirt. “Right now, with the professionals I feel like I’m doing a terrible job,” she jokes. “I think I need to do some classes and learn some stuff about how to pose.”
Inside her hotel room, there are clothes on every surface; Nike bags are strewn across the floor. Lining the window overlooking downtown Melbourne are bouquets of flowers (multiple)—from her boyfriend, the hockey player Konstantin Koltsov; from the hotel—a bottle of Piper Heidsick champagne, and a pristine, untouched chocolate gateau in the shape of a tennis court, declaring her the 2024 Australian Open champion. The whole room smells like sugar.
On a side table is a beautiful hand-drawn card, given to the 25-year-old multiple Grand Slam champion just that morning by a young girl. “Congratulations winner” the card exclaims, the Australian Open trophy rendered in fluorescent yellow highlighter. “She was asking some questions about what advice I could give to her and who was my inspiration growing up,” Sabalenka shares. “She watched my match yesterday and she loved it. She was so sweet to me.”
Sabalenka is riding an unbelievable high. On Saturday night, she defended her Australian Open title in just 76 minutes, a fast and furious match that was over in straight, exacting sets. Sabalenka came into the final against Zheng Qinwen behind, ranked number two to Qinwen’s one. But Sabalenka’s game was methodical and dynamic, powering the Belarusian to a 6-3, 6-2 victory in just over an hour of playing time. Australia is undoubtedly Sabalenka’s lucky charm; she won in her very first Grand Slam singles final here just last year, in a match that went down to the wire. Over the past 12 months, she has reached the semifinals at every Grand Slam and played some of her best tennis, but her victory lap in Melbourne has been astonishing. This century, only Ash Barty has dropped fewer games on the road to Australian Open glory. Put it this way: Sabalenka hasn’t lost a match at Rod Laver arena since 2021.
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