For a young player at the age of 22, it is amazing to get the chance to play against one of the finest tennis players. Aryna Sabalenka, a budding talent in 2021, had the chance to play against her role model Serena Williams and reach the first grand slam quarterfinal of her life. But it was memorable for more than one reason.

Being against Serena Williams is obviously not easy for anyone as it was her 54 grand slam at the age of 39. But Williams was not on the court to just play with Sabalenka, but also to get tough with her and teach her a lesson.

Serena Williams once taught a hard lesson to Aryna Sabalenka

Aryna Sabalenka has a blistering serve and a great backhand and forehand. Her serves are extremely powerful even for Serena Williams. And when she decided to play powerfully on court with her crackling groundstrokes, Serena Williams struck back with even more power.

Williams said at the time, “I think, if anything, it was definitely power, but I’m used to it in practice. I know how to get them. I was okay with it really. If she wants to play power, let’s go.” She did not hesitate or hold back even for a second and struck back with more power than ever.

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The eye-popping velocity the two of them showed on the court that day was very intriguing even for the fans to watch. But it was still a long way for Sabalenka to overpower Williams, and it clearly showed.

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But the lesson she got from Williams truly helped her as she followed in the footsteps of the legend by becoming the 1 woman to qualify for back-to-back finals at the Australian Open.

Aryna Sabalenka followed suit in the footsteps of her idol

Serena Williams was the only one till now who had gotten into the finals of the Australian Open tournament back-to-back in consecutive years. This is in reference to her entering the finals in 2016 and then again in 2017. And now Aryna Sabalenka has become the second player in WTA to do so.

She reached the finals of the tournament in 2023 and now she has done it again in 2024 by defeating Coco Gauff at Rod Laver Arena for the Australian Open. If Sabalenka wins this one, then she will also join Williams in the record of winning 2 Australian Open grand slams back-to-back for consecutive years.

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