London: Aryna Sabalenka’s third round match against Briton Emma Raducanu was about a couple of minutes old, but the Belarusian was already letting her frustration show. She gestured with her hands, and her face mirrored a storm. The roof over Centre Court was closed, which amplified the sound from the stands. The 15,000-strong crowd threw its weight behind the home player.Sometime, over the course of that 74-minute first set, when she saved eight set points, the 27-year-old turned inward. Only the odd shout of ‘come on’ scaled the decibel of her grunt. Every now and then she looked at her box and quietly pumped her fists.Sabalenka’s 7-6 (6), 6-4 two-hour win put her in the fourth round, where she faces Elise Mertens. Her real victory, however, wasn’t the one over the world No. 40, but was achieved as she held herself together when the home crowd egged on her opponent, signing up as a third feature in the match, just like on Chatrier, a month ago in Paris. ‘Break her, Emma!’ they urged between points, a few times between serves.
Poll
Which aspect of Sabalenka’s game do you think contributed most to her victory?
Sabalenka found opportunity in her loss to Coco Gauff in the French Open, where she went down in a flood of 70 unforced errors. She had let the crowd get into her head, and later, she refused to give credit to her opponent.“I learned from that difficult lesson,” she said. “In the match, I just kept telling myself, you cannot let it happen again. Whatever happens on the court, you just have to be respectful, you have to be calm. I reminded myself I’m strong enough.”The truth is, when Sabalenka is playing her tennis, she’s destruction on a pair of strong legs. A couple of new elements make her more dangerous – drop shot, underspin, that allows her time to stay in the point. More times than not when she finishes on the wrong side of a score line, it is she who has lost the match.Sabalenka is not the first player to want the crowd on her side, Novak Djokovic knows about it. Unfortunately for the world No.1, the geopolitical situation being what it is, she has faced the brunt from the public, especially at Majors. Friday, however, wasn’t about the outside noise, it was about the calm she found inside her.
