How Aryna Sabalenka powered her way past Zheng Qinwen to defend Australian Open crown
Precious few tennis players in the world hit a ball as hard as Aryna Sabalenka. Even fewer, perhaps nobody, commit to the level of all-out aggression that the Belarusian World No.2 produces on every point, in every match, every week.As all power players have had to do to excel on the big stage, Sabalenka’s consistency at the biggest tournaments are a product of her building a more well-rounded game with the mental resilience to deal with setbacks and emotional composure during big moments. But when she’s on song, it is the sheer ferocity of her groundstrokes, the power that comes from her racquet that make so many of her shots unreturnable, that makes her the toughest prospect to deal with on tour.
And just as each of her previous six opponents had done in what had been a flawless campa...