Aryna Sabalenka has been No. 1 all year — after winning US Open, now she’s back on top, too

NEW YORK—“I feel crazy,” Aryna Sabalenka said after winning her second straight US Open, on Saturday. “I wanna laugh, I wanna scream, I wanna cry at the same time.”

Can you tell that she had been keeping a lot inside?

That’s what made the difference this time. Over the course of her 94-minute, 6-3, 7-6 (3) win over Amanda Anisimova, Sabalenka didn’t scream or cry or roll her eyes or yell at her team or otherwise lose her mind. After her loss to Coco Gauff at the Open in 2023, to Madison Keys at the Australian Open in January, and to Gauff again at Roland Garros in June, she knew that melting down is not the way to win a Grand Slam final.

Read More: Aryna Sabalenka thunders to 2025 US Open title defense, defeats Amanda Anisimova

“Two finals where I completely lost control over my emotions,” she told ESPN. “I just didn’t want this to happen again.”

“I decided for myself I’m going to control my emotions. I’m not going to let them take control over me.”

That’s not to say it was easy.

“There were a few moments when I was this close to letting it go,” she said, bringing her index finger and thumb to within a millimeter of each other.

One of those moments came when Sabalenka was up a set and a break, and looked like she was heading for a quick victory. But Anisimova, who had mostly been misfiring, finally loosened up and starting finding the corners. When she found one with a blazing backhand to break, the Ashe crowd let out a deafening roar, the kind that has sent Sabalenka spiraling in the past.

This time she threw her team a glare and got back to business. She opened the next game with added aggression, and broke back at love.

A few games later, Sabalenka had another moment. She was serving for the title at 5-4, 30-30. She had hit a penetrating forehand approach and seemed to have the point well in hand. Anisimova threw up a desperation defensive lob that got a little behind Sabalenka, who reached back but couldn’t get the ball over the net. Again, the crowd thundered. Again, Sabalenka glared. Again, she was broken and the set was level at 5-5.

Read More: Amanda Anisimova roars into US Open final with marathon win over Naomi Osaka

Two finals where I completely lost control over my emotions. I just didn’t want this to happen again.

“In that smash, I just let the doubt get into my head,” she said. “I doubted where should I play it, for some reason.”

“But then I turned around and I took a deep breath in, and I was, like, ‘OK, it happens. It’s in the past. Let’s focus on the next one.’”

Again, Sabalenka recovered. She knew that if she could get to a tiebreaker, she would like her chances—she has hardly lost any this season. She was at her best in this one as well, winning points with first serves and strong forehands, but not swinging wildly or going for the lines.

Sabalenka, typically the aggressor, played within herself on Saturday. She hit just 13 winners, but made just 15 errors—compared to 70 in her final in Paris against Gauff. She knew Anisimova would be belting the ball; she just wanted to make it difficult for her to belt it for winners.

“I knew that it’s going to be very fast game, very aggressive,” Sabalenka said. “I was just trying to stay as low as possible, and I was just trying to, you know, put that speed, that pressure back on her and see how she can handle it.”

Why was this final different from so many of her other late-Slam matches? During a break in Greece this year, she said she had a revelation: In the past, she hadn’t thought her opponents would put up as much resistance as they did.

“It felt like I thought that, OK, if I made it to the final, it means that I’m going to win it, you know, and I sort of didn't expect players to come out there and to fight,” she said. “You know, I thought that everything is going to go easily my way, which was completely wrong mindset.”

When Anisimova’s final return landed wide, Sabalenka dropped the court and stayed there, the emotions flooding her.

“Because of the finals earlier this season, this one felt different,” she said. “You know, this one felt like I had to overcome a lot of things to get this one. I knew that, the hard work we put in, I deserved to have a Grand Slam title this season.”

Who can say she’s wrong? Sabalenka is 57-10 in 2025, she made the finals of three Slams, the semis at the fourth, and she has a winner’s trophy. She’s been No. 1 all year, but now she’s on top again.

She said she wanted to laugh, scream, and cry after her win. When Sloane Stephens asked her how she was going to celebrate the moment, Sabalenka said she wanted to do something else, too.

“Oh girl, we gonna drink.”