There’s something unmistakably alpha about Aryna Sabalenka. Her fingernails are painted Wimbledon green; she also has the sheen that comes with being the world No.1. Then there are the screaming forehands, shots that are bigger and louder than anything else out there on the grass.
Under the closed roof of Centre Court, Sabalenka is somehow even more of a presence than when playing alfresco; the sound of the ball coming off her strings is even louder, and so are all her cries and grunts.
There is much more to Sabalenka’s game than pure power and noise, of course, as she was showing some grass court craft here, with sliced forehands and backhands that kept devilishly low.
But if Sabalenka does go on to win Wimbledon for the first time on Saturday afternoon
– this 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over Belgium’s Elise Mertens took her into Tuesday’s quarter-finals – it will mostly be because she smacks the
ball harder than anyone else.
Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row. So said Gerulaitis after snapping his losing streak against Jimmy Connors, and that iconic line came to mind on Centre Court as Sabalenka defeated Mertens once again.
Somebody beats Mertens 10 times in a row, it turns out, and, of all the people to
do it, it’s her former doubles partner. Losing 10 in a row to anyone is rough but
perhaps it’s a little harder to take when it comes against someone you have won two
Grand Slam doubles titles with.
Along with her usual heavy power, Sabalenka brought something else to the grass: a deep understanding, informed by the time they have spent together, of how her opponent thinks and feels and operates.
Sabalenka’s power is often devastating enough against other opponents, but when you combine that weight of shot with the intelligence she has on the Belgian, it becomes almost unstoppable. When Sabalenka and Mertens embraced at the end, it was the first gentle moment of this match.
“I'm super happy with the performance,” Sabalenka said. “It was a battle. She always brings great tennis on court. I'm super happy to get the win.”
While there’s a separate locker room for the seeds, it’s not as if there’s some kind of VIP lane through the draw into the latter stages of The Championships.
Sabalenka is the only one of the top six seeds to have made it this far. But it somehow still feels meaningful that she’s the No.1 seed for the first time, giving her status that’s significantly greater than being just a spot lower.
And with all the former champions out, guaranteeing a new winner of the Venus Rosewater Dish on Saturday, it’s also worth noting that Sabalenka is the only woman in the top half who knows what it takes to land a Grand Slam title, having already won the Australian Open twice and the US Open once.
With another win over Mertens, Sabalenka extended another sequence – this meant she has reached the quarter-finals or better at the last 11 Grand Slams she has played. If she beats Siegemund, she would equal her longest ever run on the Wimbledon grass, to go with her other semi-final appearances here in 2021 and 2023.
Even with the roof shut, this match was never going to be as lively as Sabalenka’s Friday night encounter with Emma Raducanu, which was about as compelling as a straight sets win in an early round is ever going to be. That encounter with Raducanu was “super loud”, Sabalenka has said, giving her goosebumps and making her ears hurt (she also pretended that the 15,000 spectators were cheering and screaming for her rather than the Briton).
If Sabalenka had handled that occasion and atmosphere, you just knew she would be able to cope playing against a Belgian who wouldn’t have all of Centre Court behind her, and that’s how it turned out.
This time, Sabalenka felt as though she was the one who had the crowd with her, telling them afterwards in her post-match interview: “I feel like today I got you on my side, right?”
Having the crowd on her side could be a considerable advantage in the days to come. “With your support, guys, I think everything is possible. I don't know. It's such a beautiful tournament,” she said. “I always dreamed of winning it.”