There are victories written in black ink, in the solitude of battle. Aryna Sabalenka‘s victory in the semi-final of Roland-Garros 2025 belongs to this rare, precious, almost sacred category. By defeating Iga Swiatek, the three-time defending champion and undisputed empress of clay, the Belarusian broke a cycle. She shattered a form of quiet hegemony. In a single match, she opened a new era in women’s tennis.
But more than the result, it is the manner that questions, fascinates, and moves. Sabalenka did not steal her triumph. She built it progressively, stroke by stroke and gaze by gaze. Moreover, a tense drama unfolded. It finally unraveled through a controlled explosion of lucidity and power. Her cry, her smile, her contained tears on the Philippe-Chatrier court: everything spoke of a rebirth.
For months, clues had been surfacing. A more grounded body posture. A more mature emotional management. A tournament schedule designed as a conquest plan. The shadow work was finally bearing fruit. At Roland-Garros, a place of repeated failures for her, Sabalenka did not simply win a match. She took possession of a territory.
From Miami to Paris: a trajectory marked by drama
This triumph is part of a larger, almost tragic narrative. In March 2024, during the Miami Open, an event of unprecedented intensity struck Sabalenka’s life: her ex-partner, former hockey player Konstantin Koltsov, took his own life in a city hotel. Two days later, in a surreal atmosphere, Sabalenka lifted the trophy of the Florida tournament. She did not smile. She gritted her teeth. She moved forward.
This moment, almost silently passed over by the media to respect privacy, marked a turning point. The player, until then known for her raw strength, became something else: a survivor, a woman facing chaos, who chose not to flee. She never portrayed herself as a victim. She turned this pain into a lever. Her game changed. Her body tensed differently. Her will to win turned into a necessity to be.
This Miami Open was not a victory like any other. It was a manifesto: I am standing. I hold on. And I will go all the way.
Tactics and transformation: the slow taming of clay
She was long said to be unsuited to clay. Too powerful, too direct, too explosive for the patience required by the Parisian clay. The diagnosis was not wrong, but incomplete. What many did not see coming was Sabalenka’s ability to learn, to mutate, to transform her tennis DNA without denying her nature.
Her coach, Anton Dubrov, worked in depth. Work on footwork, on topspin, on wrist relaxation. Introduction of variations: timely drop shots, sliced backhands, off-tempo net approaches. Sabalenka understood that Roland-Garros is not won by force, but by intelligence. That sometimes you have to give up dominating to better suffocate.
This adaptability deserves to be highlighted. It is rare among players whose style relies so much on taking risks. But Sabalenka, in 2025, is no longer a stereotypical power hitter. She has become a pianist of chaos, capable of playing on all registers, including the most subtle. In Paris, she not only stood up to Swiatek. She suffocated her in her own domain.
A modern heroine between power and vulnerability
What fascinates about Aryna Sabalenka is this constant duality: unfiltered strength and raw emotion. Each match becomes an opera. A place of struggle but also of expression. She has never hidden her anger, her doubts, her flaws. And it is precisely this that creates a form of sincere connection. She touches, because she does not cheat.
Contrary to the polite neutrality that sometimes prevails on the circuit, she dares to overflow. She dances, she screams, she cries. Her impromptu duet with Novak Djokovic was filmed during an event on the sidelines of the Madrid tournament. This moment sums up well the ambiguity of her character: rigorous on the court, but joyfully offbeat as soon as she steps out.
Her influence goes beyond tennis. She embodies a new generation of athletes, both ultra-professional and resolutely human. Her growing popularity attests to this: young people recognize themselves in her, the older ones find a form of new breath.
The shadow ally: Georgios Frangulis, a discreet pillar
In this personal and sporting construction, love plays a key role. Since 2022, Sabalenka has shared her life with Georgios Frangulis, a Brazilian entrepreneur at the head of the Oakberry brand, specializing in açaí bowls. A discreet union, made official in 2024, contrary to the star system.
Frangulis does not shine in the stands. He observes, supports, sometimes consoles. Their relationship, far from the tumult, seems to offer Sabalenka a foundation, a shoulder, a benevolent mirror. She often says he "reminds her of the essential." And the essential, at this level, is balance. Because without grounding, elite sports become a centrifuge.
This discreet tandem illustrates the idea that off-court shapes the game. That performance also arises from emotional stability. In an era of image contracts and meticulously crafted appearances, their bond offers a breath of authenticity.
Coco Gauff, the last step: a final with a taste of revenge
The last obstacle is called Coco Gauff. And it is not a detail. The American, who became a global star since her victory at the 2023 US Open – precisely against Sabalenka –, is a tutelary figure of modern women’s tennis: committed, precocious, charismatic.
This final of Roland-Garros 2025 is more than a match. It is a duel of symbols. On one side, Gauff, the embodiment of a confident America, nurtured by performance and sponsors. On the other, Sabalenka, the result of a slow maturation, born in a geopolitically tense country, forged by adversity.
The rivalry between the two young women continues to grow. It is inscribed in duration. It now structures the circuit. Gauff and Sabalenka are somewhat the new Clijsters-Henin or Evert-Navratilova. With a cultural dimension amplified by social networks, geographical divides, personal stories.
Tactically, the match promises to be thrilling. Gauff excels in defense and counterattack, while Sabalenka, in her 2025 version, now alternates rhythms. The clay becomes the theater of a tug-of-war between science and instinct, caution and audacity. It is a final of the era.
The imprint of the fight: a heroine for tomorrow
Whatever the outcome of this final, Sabalenka has already won something invisible: a status. She is no longer a talented outsider. She has become a pillar of the circuit, a figure that goes beyond mere results. She has imposed another way of thinking about high-level sport. She fully integrates the psychological, emotional, and cultural dimensions of performance.
And then, there is Roland-Garros. This tournament that, more than any other, freezes images in the marble of collective memory. Sabalenka has left an imprint there. Not by the violence of her strokes, but by the depth of her story. She conquered clay not as an enemy, but as an ally. It’s a metaphor for her own life.
If tennis is a theater, then Sabalenka is a sublime tragedian. She does not always win, but she tells a story every time. And that is probably what makes her unique today.