Sabalenka still a work in progress ahead of Melbourne title defence

SYDNEY : Aryna Sabalenka is not one to rest on her laurels and has been hard at work in the off-season as she looks to improve even on her stellar 2023, starting with her first defence of a Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.

The 25-year-old Belarussian took a knock at the weekend when Elena Rybakina, her opponent in last year's Melbourne Park final, snapped her 15-match winning streak in Australia with a crushing 6-0 6-3 victory in the Brisbane International final.

Although there was much scowling and head-shaking during the all-too-brief contest, Sabalenka was soon laughing off her bad day at the office and focusing on her next assignment at the year's first Grand Slam.

That reaction was a significant improvement on the Sabalenka of only a couple of years ago, a player with all the weapons to compete for the game's major prizes but who crumbled into a tearful mess at the first sign of a setback.

"After the (2022) season, I decided to change my approach to tennis, just let it go, don't get crazy on court, try to control myself better, don't lose myself after tough points or whatever," she explained in Brisbane.

"Since that, I realised that it's bringing me so much control on myself and control in the game, that it's not necessary to throw rackets. You miss the point, that's okay, just move on and try to think what can you do better in the next one.

"This kind of approach really helped me last season. Hopefully I can improve that kind of thinking in this season."

Last year, Sabalenka also reached the U.S. Open final and the semi-finals at the French Open and Wimbledon, becoming the first woman to reach at least the last four at all the majors in one season since Serena Williams in 2016.

That buried her reputation as a Grand Slam underperformer and she would have ended the year as world number one but for a loss to Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals of the WTA Finals in Mexico.

She would be the first to admit that there remains some work to be done in completely banishing her demons after losing last year's French Open semi-final despite holding a match point and her Wimbledon semi from a set and a break up.

The answer for the woman who bears a tattoo of a tiger on her arm is work, work and more work.

"I'm working a lot on my serve. I still think there is a lot of things to improve on my serve," she added.

"I'm also trying to step in a little bit more on court, recognise the short approach shots, try to move forward instead of staying on the baseline.

"It's been a lot of work in the pre-season. As we say, hard work pays off. Hopefully it's going to pay off."