Sabalenka is the game’s heavyweight puncher, but in Andreeva she was up against a player who is more like Muhammad Ali. It all began to go sideways when Andreeva, regaining the composure that has been so vital to her blossoming success, buckled down and played more aggressive, creative tennis.
The dam finally broke in the third game of the second set, when Andreeva finally converted a break point to punch through. The spell broken, Andreeva’s confidence increased. She jerked Sabalenka all over the court. When she wasn’t doing that she was drilling sharp serves or attacking Sabalenka’s serve. Andreeva created a blueprint for mastering Sabalenka, and you can bet many coaches and players will study it.
Andreeva said after the match that she had been nervous the entire time, but she also realized after the first set that she needed to change her game plan. The subsequent strategy wasn’t exactly a reprisal of Ali’s famous rope-a-dope, but it was clear that instead of trying to go around Sabalenka, Andreeva tried to go through her.
“In the second set,” Andreeva said after the match, “I tried to play a little bit more aggressive. I didn’t try to overhit her, because I don’t think anyone can overhit Aryna. She’s a super-powerful player. I tried to create something to make her uncomfortable and point-by-point, game-by-game, I managed to do that.”
Note the emphasis Andreeva put on the incremental nature of her success. It was reminiscent of Arthur Ashe’s famous remark about how John McEnroe didn’t kill you with the mighty swing of a broadsword, he just inflicted cuts and nicks—and pretty soon you bled to death.
