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The sprinkling rain at Melbourne Park meant the roof stayed closed on centre court for the Australian Open women’s final, turning Rod Laver Arena into a concert hall charged with the music of tennis. But there was one noise that wasn’t quite right. In the sacred moments before each player’s serving motion, the crowd generally obeyed the protocol demanding silence. However, a single bird – perched somewhere high in the rafters – was less compliant.
It must not have been able to escape before the roof shut on Saturday afternoon, and so there it stayed. Tweet-tweet. An unusual accompaniment to a grand slam final. No one could see the critter, though long they tried, as dozens of the 15,000-strong crowd craned their necks in curiosity. Even the umpire kept glancing up, only to recognise the limit of even his broad powers. Tweet-tweet.
The quaint, sweet birdsong was agreeable and familiar, as was the contest below. Featuring two players at the summit of tennis – the world No 1 in Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina, soon-to-be No 3, whatever the outcome – who knew each other intimately. Their power games are well matched and their sustained success has brought them together often. They had duelled more times than either had faced anyone else on tour, 14 times all up.
The most important of those was the final at Melbourne Park three years ago, marking the major breakthrough for Sabalenka, and – after giving up a one-set lead – one of several setbacks suffered by Rybakina in recent years that have became fodder for tour whispers.
But as the Rod Laver Arena wildlife kept chirping, those whispers were hushed. The Kazakshtani secured the first set and was testing Sabalenka in a fierce second. At about this time, a newly downloaded bird app identified the sound as coming from a myna, but not the noisy type.
The tenor of the match was soon to change, however, as Rybakina crumbled to hand the second set to her opponent – failing to win a point on serve at 4-5 – and falling to an early break in the third. A 16-shot rally in that game was an arm wrestle, a microcosm of the final thus far.
The pair went backhand to backhand until Rybakina bent. For the loser there was no rage in response, no wild gesticulations, only a forlorn woman looking like she wanted to be somewhere else. The bird, by the way, was also quiet.
The contrast with Sabalenka was jarring. In apparel, the world No 1 wore orange and pink stitched with black and blue and matched with jewellery, as her opponent got around in functional off-white. At the end of each point, win or lose, Sabalenka provided a reaction – flicking her hand in dismay, shouting: “Let’s go!” or pointing to her head as if to question what she was thinking.
The on-court theatrics and off-court charisma have won her many fans and they were bellowing in the third set as she closed in on her third Australian Open triumph. “Come on, Tiger: you got this,” one loud supporter shouted, referencing the animal that is now a key part of brand Aryna.
In comparison, there were fewer Rybakina supporters. Perhaps the most vocal was Malika Batkuldina. The civil engineer and tennis fan carried a handmade sign scrawled with crayon, reading “Lena ace” and a crown to point out Rybakina’s record as the tournament’s top server. Batkuldina had flown to Australia last week for the tournament to support a group of Kazakhstani players led by Alexander Bublik and Rybakina.
Although both were recruited from Russia as teenagers, she saw no reason not to support them. “It doesn’t matter where she was born,” Batkuldina said, who described Rybakina as “calm and more introverted, not so social and [an] extrovert, [or an] emotional person”.
As the third set built to its climax, the bird had resumed its song. It was almost drowned out by an arena full of noise, amplified by all Sabalenka’s fire and fury. But through the crescendo, Rybakina maintained a quiet determination. She was an eye in the storm, patiently breaking back against Sabalenka, and then completing the upset with the minimum of fuss.
She had beaten the queen of hard courts, the best player in the world, the contemporary benchmark for the sport. Yet there were no outbursts after the final point, no dramatic collapse to the court. Just a briefly clenched fist and a nod to her team to mark a very loud victory.
