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Rick Macci sees a silver lining in Aryna Sabalenka's heartbreaking Australian Open final as Serena Williams' childhood coach thinks this will only make the Belarusian mentally stronger and lead to more Grand Slam titles in her collection.
After dominating the 2023 and 2024 Australian Open editions, the world No. 1 appeared to be destined to complete a three-peat at Melbourne Park.
But then, Madison Keys delivered a very inspiring performance to ruin those plans and edge out the top seed 6-3 2-6 7-5 for her maiden Slam title.
Moments after losing the final, Sabalenka was seen slamming her racket - putting a towel over her head - and leaving the court to try to calm down.
With that being said, it wasn't hard to understand how frustrated and devastated the three-time Grand Slam champion was over failing to land another Major but also write history at Melbourne Park.
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"Sabalenka will become mentally stronger after losing to Keys," Macci wrote on X.
"She has the best flat out pure raw firepower on tour and now her mindset will elevate to another level of determination and many Grand Slams will be her destination."
Sabalenka vowed to return stronger
The Belarusian didn't hide her disappointment in her post-final presser, highlighting that in the end, only one thing matters - it's the title.
After making that clear, she promised to return better and make it all the way at the Australian Open once again in the future.
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"I think when you get to the point of finals, it's trophy or nothing," Sabalenka said in her presser after finishing as runner-up.
"Nobody remembers the finalist, you know? Nobody puts the finalists name next to the winner! At this point, I go for titles.
"But I have to be proud of myself with three finals in a row. That's something crazy. I hope that next year I'll come back as a better player, and I'll hold [the trophy] one more time."
