Aryna Sabalenka was finally able to win her first championship at the Australian Open after beating Elena Rybakina in three sets on Saturday.
After the traditional trophy presentation and photo shoot at Rod Laver Arena, Sabalenka finally got a good look at the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, the Women’s Singles Champion’s trophy.
“Oh my god, I already have my name!” Sabalenka exclaimed Nine World Wide of Sports. “Wow. That’s just amazing. It’s all stars. All those names.”
As the new winner continued to view her prize, television cameras zoomed in on the trophy to reveal Sabalenka’s name alongside last year’s winners.
Unlike the traditional format, however, Sabalenka’s name was engraved without mentioning her home country of Belarus, while last year’s two winners, Naomi Osaka and Ash Barty, have abbreviations for Japan and Australia respectively.
Sabalenka’s name is engraved on the trophy without her home country of Belarus.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) have banned Russian and Belarusian players from participating in sanctioned events unless playing under a neutral flag.
Although Belarus is not directly involved in the war in Ukraine, its support of Russia prompted the ATP and WTA to make the decision in March 2022 to ban players from playing under the two flags.
During that year’s Australian Open, Sabalenka played with a white flag next to her name instead of the red-green-white flag of Belarus, while all her opponents played with their national flags next to their names.
“I think everyone still knows that I’m a Belarusian player. That’s it,” Sabalenka said after the win.
Wimbledon banned all Belarusian and Russian players from participating in last year’s tournament. Sabalenka was among the delegation not invited to London, which included former world number one Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov, Victoria Azarenka and Daria Kasatkina.
Sabalenka became only the second Belarusian woman to win a Grand Slam title after Victoria Azarenka won back-to-back Australian Open titles in 2012 and 2013.
She was also the first singles player from Russia or Belarus to win a Grand Slam since Maria Sharapova did so at the 2014 French Open.