Elena Rybakina won the 2026 Australian Open, beating Aryna Sabalenka, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. She continued the sparkling form she had shown in the back half of 2025 and especially the WTA Finals final, where she also beat Sabalenka. In that match, Rybakina was always on top, with Sabalenka clinging on by her fingernails. This final was much more about ebbs and flows and especially about serving and returning.

Rybakina laid down a marker in the very first game of the match, reading Sabalenka’s sometimes too predictable serve patterns but displaying the crisp clean hitting she is known for and putting Sabalenka on the back foot with her precise and deep retutns. However, Sabalenka did not face another break point on her serve until the 3-1 in the final set! It was Sabalenka who was holding easier, putting pressure on Rybakina. But time after time on break point, Rybakina brought out her best – either an ace or unreturned serve or a perfect serve plus one. At times in the past, Sabalenka has been wasteful on return of serve but there were not that many she had a play on in set two until Rybakina was serving at 4-5 and threw in a less that stellar service game while Sabalenka fired up her aggression. With that set won, Sabalenka maintained her record of winning at least one set in a grand slam match that dates back the US Open of 2020 when she lost in straight sets to Victoria Azarenka. 110 matches and counting!

This match was all about the third set. Sabalenka had the momentum and went 3-0 with a break and a hold. It seemed she was on course to claim the title, but then a change happened. Rybakina started hitting out again and Sabalenka got a little tight. The narrative around Sabalenka is that she chokes in finals. In the last 12 months she has reached 5 big finals – 2025 Australian Open (lost to Madison Keys), 2025 French Open (lost to Coco Gauff), 2025 US Open (beat Amanda Anisimova), 2025 WTA Finals final (lost to Rybakina) and now this 2026 Australian Open with another loss to Rybakina. Which is the real story – amazing that she makes all of the major finals – the one she didn’t, Wimbledon 2025, she lost in the semifinals – or does Aryna have a finals problem?

For me, it is a bit of both. She is the world number 1 and has done a lot of winnings, but when someone is peaking, she can be beaten. Madi Keys last year was inspired. Rybakina in the WTA finals was flawless. In this match, at a key moment in the third set, Sabalenka got a little tight and Rybakina flourished! Having got to 5-4 and serving for the match, it was 30-30. Things were still in the balance. Rybakina had not got that many first serves in during the match. But at this moment she served an unreturnable serve and an ace out wide on match point. Perfect.

Rybakina’s game is built around her height and long limbs. Her serve is a thing of beauty and the best on the tour. A lovely rhythm and also an effective kick on her second serve. She also is a clutch player – pulling out the serves when she needs them. She served way more aces – 47 – than the next best players – Sabalenka and Wang Xinyu with 27. While it was awkward to see Stefano Vukov on the stage receiving a coach’s award, it is undeniable that his return has coincided with a return to her best tennis. It is also notable that his manner in on-court coaching is much less aggressive and negative than pre-ban. He still talks all the time, but actually you can hear that he is giving information and encouragement instead of what we used to see, which was berating her for what she was doing wrong. I think perhaps it is time to admit 26-year-old Elena Rybakina knows what is best for her – he is clearly not going anywhere. It is still notable that we don’t see her lovely sister Anna in her box any more mind you…

After winning Wimbledon in 2022, Rybakina has been stuck in the one-slam club with Sloane Stephens, Jelena Ostapenko, Sofia Kenin, Bianca Andreescu, Emma Raducanu and Marketa Vondrousova. To be honest, she deserves to be above those players. Rybakina is too good to have just one slam to her name and now seemingly happy and healthy, it was a deserved win.

But. I wanted Aryna Sabalenka to win this! I’m a fan, so of course I did. But also because this narrative of her not being able to close out the most important matches is one I wanted to be dispelled. Sabalenka honestly doesn’t have much to regret about most of those finals losses. Keys outplayed her and played the tournament of her life. Rybakina rolls everyone when in peak form. The one major final she will have regret about was the French Open final, when she was unable to cope with the windy conditions and an opponent who made everything awkward for her. Sabalenka has kept showing up and fighting.

Early in her career, the story was she could not go deep in slams but since 2023 she has only failed to make the semifinals of a slam once – the infamous loss to Mirra Andreeva at the 2024 French Open when she was so ill she struggled to move – but still won a set!

However, 8 slam finals and only (ONLY!) 4 grand slam titles might be considered disappointing. I also do wonder if mentally she is starting to get a negative feeling going into a slam final. I hope not as she played really well in this match but for a 10-15 minute spell. Unfortunately for Aryna and her fans, that spell came at the wrong time.

People sometimes talk about a player’s floor and ceiling level. Your ceiling is your peak. Think Petra Kvitova at Wimbledon 2014! A perfect day and your best tennis. Your floor is your average level that you rarely drop below. Sabalenka has the best floor probably, super consistent (see above!) But peaking Rybakina or Keys or even Pegula in Wuhan last year can trouble her. Sabalenka rarely wipes the floor with people. She usually gives up a few errors, it is the nature of the way she plays going for those lines. Rybakina has probably the highest ceiling of anyone on tour right now, and it will be fascinating to see how long she can maintain it.

A few other notable storylines from the 2026 Australian Open. The rise of the youngsters! Notable runs for Iva Jovic, Vicky Mboko, Tereza Valentova, Nikola Bartunkova (one I didn’t mention in my Here Come the Girls section of the review of the year post here). Also notable, while she lost in the first round, Alex Eala showed that she is possibly the most popular player on either tour right now! At least when her Filipino fans mobilize. She lost to the powerful Alycia Parks but the grounds at Melbourne Park were packed with thousands of Eala fans. I’ve just been watching her play in the WTA 500 in Abu Dhabi where similarly massive crowds are cheering her on. It will be interesting to see how much of this continues in other parts of the world.

The top 6 seeds all made the quarterfinals where Coco Gauff had an inexplicably appalling performance to lose 6-1, 6-2 to Elina Svitolina. Absolutely nothing was working for Coco. While Sabalenka was teaching Iva Jovic what it means to play with the big girls, the other 2 quarter finals saw the higher seeds lose. Amanda Anisimova had a bit of a meltdown against an admittedly red hot Jess Pegula but the manner of her loss was a bit worrying considering Anisimova’s past struggles with her mental health. Iga Swiatek had been going for the career slam at this tournament but she continued her poor form against fellow top players and again, a bit of a capitulation. Rybakina beat her 7-5, 6-1 and once a tight first set went the Kazak’s way, Iga did her usual job of just hitting wildly. It has been noted before that the manner of some of her losses is a bit alarming. I am not a huge Iga fan, but I hope she can find her game better as it is quite an anxious feeling watch her flame out so often.

What was also a bit disappointing is that there were very few brilliant or memorable matches. Yes, watching Yulia Putinseva wind up Brazilian and Turkish fans was a giggle but from the 4th round to the final, there were only two three set matches – Gauff/Muchova which was pretty good, and the final itself which was gripping but very serve dominated.

On the other hand, the women’s doubles saw some excellent matches!

Possibly my favourite match of the whole tournament was the second round match between Iva Jovic and Vicky Mboko against eventual champions Elise Mertens and Zhang Shuai. The youngsters were all power, leaping to a 5-0 lead before the experienced pair somehow got back and won the first set 7-5. A tight second set was edged by Jovic and Mboko and things stayed tight all the way to 6-6 and the match tie break.

(Apologies for the bad TikTok video)

This point above and indeed the whole match tie break was a thriller. Mboko and Jovic had three match points. One Mboko got all wrong and hit into the net. Another she double faulted! 2 hours 36 minutes of excellent entertainment and an advert for why full doubles with three full sets and playing deuce/advantage is a good thing!

Finally, a word on my faves and I want to shout out Barbora Krejcikova who played possibly one of the best sets of tennis in the women’s tournament in the first round against Diana Shnaider. Krejcikova was absolutely awesome in that first set and totally outplayed Shnaider. We saw all of the shot construction and that swashbuckling forehand. Unfortunately, Barbora has been struggling with a knee injury since Bejing last autumn and could not keep it going, but a few signs of hope for Babs fans!

Katerina Siniakova gave Amanda Anisimova a good test before bowing out in round two of the singles, but will be pretty disappointed to lose in the quarterfinals of the doubles to Danilina and Krunic – especially getting bagelled in the final set! Katerina and partner Taylor Townsend had a bad day and played pretty poorly. As a result of being defending AO champion, Siniakova dropped a lot of points and Elise Mertens returns to doubles world number 1. Like Rybakina, she also won the WTA finals (with Veronika Kudermetova) and the Australian Open. Mertens also had a decent run in singles, making the 4th round. I have become a bit of an Anna Danilina and Alex Krunic fan so was hoping they might finally win a slam but Mertens and Zhang were too powerful in the final.

All in all, some good contests, but few truly outstanding matches. Rybakina takes home the trophy, Sabalenka goes away with more questions, Swiatek and Gauff some technical issues to sort out, Pegula and Svitolina maxxed out their skills and a whole bunch of young players made their mark.

Maybe I can try to get a normal sleep pattern back now!