Bill Simons
Men’s tennis has its Big Two – Alcaraz and Sinner. Together they’ve won the last nine Grand Slams. And of late, women’s tennis has had its own Big Two. Elena Rybakina, the Moscow native who became a Kazakh, and the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who long ago moved to Miami.
For decades, the WTA has had its share of modestly sized stars – from Simona Halep, Ash Barty and Iga Swiatek to Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula. Sabalenka, 5’ 11”, and the 6’ Rybakina are different. Years ago, when Serena, Venus, Sharapova and Lindsay Davenport roamed the plains of tennis, Mary Carillo coined the phrase, “Big Babe Tennis.”
No kidding. Sabalenka has powerful round shoulders that almost rival Serena’s. Her muscles can’t hide. Her grunts reverberate up to row Z – she can’t hear herself play. All the while, the big woman from the little country has had to overcome mind-boggling obstacles.
Her cruel childhood coaches told her that she was too stupid to make it. She lost her beloved dad when he was just 43. The Belarusian was once linked to her country’s war-happy dictator. She overcame a wretched loss of confidence on her serve, and in 2024 endured the suicide of her former boyfriend.
Of late, there have been highlights. It’s not just that Aryna is a giggly free spirit who often chuckles like a teen. She adores pranks, loves to dress up and teases her bald trainer. She won the 2025 US Open, and, how wonderful, she just got engaged to a hunky Brazilian entrepreneur.
Still, she admitted, “sometimes my emotions are crazy. But that’s who I am.” And, of late, frustration hovered heavy. Her eight losses in Grand Slam finals and semis were a cloud that wouldn’t vanish. She had never won Indian Wells, where she’d lost to Rybakina in the final in 2023. And, more recently, the Kazakh whipped Aryna in the 2025 WTA Finals and came from behind to dismiss Sabalenka in the Australian Open final.
Enough already!
The Belarusian with the tiger tattoo had had it. After Aryna had beaten Naomi Osaka, Victoria Mboko, and Linda Nosková to reach the BNP Paribas final, she sighed, “I’m so done with losing these big finals…I feel I had so many opportunities…[But] I will do everything I can – and everything I cannot – to get that trophy.”
Rybakina had other ideas. Stoic Elena hits freely and steps in like a sniper. Is she a silent assassin? You betcha – just ask Marta Kostyuk, Jesse Pegula and Elina Svitolina. Few in WTA history have had more firepower.
But her career has been perplexing. Let’s not say that she’s famous for not being famous. And it’s not fair to say she’s famous for the wrong things. But when she beat Ons Jabeur to claim a triumphant feel-good win at Wimbledon at age 22, her expression was flatter than a pancake.
Virtually expressionless, we saw no relief, little joy and only the slightest of smiles. She didn’t leap in place or fall to the turf. Yes, she told us that her win was a fairy tale. Mostly, it seemed like just another day at the office. Martina Navratilova insisted, “Rybakina wins the trophy for the least emotion shown after a win.”
Elena is in the tradition of Pete Sampras, who told us, “I’m just a tennis player – nothing more – nothing less.” We get it. Rybakina is a pleasant woman who knows how to play her sport and doesn’t have a lot to say. Attendance at her press conferences is often sparse.
And for long stretches her victories seemed sort of sparse, too, as she drifted to No. 11 in 2025. Plus her longtime coach and pal, Stefano Vukov, was provisionally suspended by the WTA in January 2025 to investigate allegations of toxic behavior and bullying.
Today, at first, it was Rybakina who was the unsparing bully. Never mind that Sabalenka was one year older and one ranking slot higher than world No. 2 Elena. The no-nonsense 26-year-old came out swinging as if her private plane was waiting at the Palm Springs airport. Lean and unflappable, she struck the ball cleanly and early, stepping inside the court and flattening forehands like rifle shots. Points that lasted fewer than five shots continually went her way. Sabalenka barely had time to breathe.
The Kazakh’s serve hummed, her scorching ground strokes skimming through the 97° desert air. Rybakina controlled the tempo, held the center of the court and calmly collected the opening set 6–3, her face revealing as much as a poker player who was riding a bluff.
But they say there’s a crack in everything, and Elena made a modest mistake.
Early in the second set, she sprayed a forehand long. Sabalenka pounced. The Belarusian broke quickly, and suddenly her roar ricocheted through the stands — the thunderous grunt that some adore, others dread, and everyone hears.
Momentum shifted like a desert wind. Sabalenka stepped up and displayed that imposing fury that has both thrilled and tortured so many. Her shoulders turned, her forehand cracked. She began claiming rallies that earlier had been Rybakina’s property. The world No. 1 surged through the second set 6-3, her intensity rising point by point.
The third set became a street fight between two of the game’s most powerful ball strikers. Aces flew. Baseline exchanges crackled. “Absolutely incredible,” gushed Mark Petchy. Thanks to an early break, Aryna was up 5-4 and served for the match. So often this champion blinks at the biggest moments. In contrast, Rybakina, who recently had been so dominant against Aryna, was steel.
The Kazakh broke, and soon had a championship point at 6-5 in the third-set tiebreak. But Sabalenka erased it with the kind of fearless strike that defines champions, and then claimed victory as a makable Elena volley and return of serve flew long.
After 2:31 Sabalenka had her revenge. Her two losses in Indian Wells finals were in the rearview mirror. She prevailed 3–6, 6–3, 7–6 (6). Aryna confided, “I just kept telling myself: keep fighting, keep pushing. This one means a lot because I’ve had some painful losses here.”
But her desert outing this year proved triumphant. Sabalenka won a title, got a puppy and her fiancé gave her a ring so dazzling that it was said it could be spotted from outer space. Aryna’s sparkling win in tennis paradise probably wasn’t seen in outer space, but it sure rocked the tennis universe.
*****
MEN’S FINAL: Daniil Medvedev, who lost to Alcaraz in the 2023 and 2024 Indian Wells finals, once again fell short. Today, the Russian octopus with sweeping strokes and a receding hairline fell to the astounding Jannik Sinner. The Russian stayed close, forced two tiebreaks and held a 4-0 lead in the second-set breaker before the Italian superstar won seven straight points to claim his first title of the year and his first in the desert 7-6(6), 7-6(4).
Also reporting: Vinay Venkatesh
