It’s been over a decade since a woman stood tall at Flushing Meadows two years in a row, yet Aryna Sabalenka, the reigning World No. 1, marches into New York determined to shatter that curse. Serena Williams was the last to script back-to-back triumphs, conquering three straight from 2012 to 2014, and the Belarusian now stares up that same mountain. But her road has been bruised, an agonizing Australian Open final loss that crushed a three-peat dream, a French Open final heartbreak, and a Wimbledon semifinal stumble. As the US Open looms, Serena’s ex-coach Rennae Stubbs voices unease, fearing her game drifts toward troubling lackness.

On her podcast, The Rennae Stubbs Podcast, the Aussie didn’t mince her words. “I’ve been watching Aryna Sabalenka practice over the last couple of days. Yeah, and we’ve talked about this, the matches she is losing and the way she’s playing over the last couple of weeks,” she revealed. The undertone was clear: the Sabalenka many expect to dominate is instead flashing signs of troubling instability.

Stubbs dug even deeper into what she sees as a dangerous technical weakness. “She doesn’t miss by like a foot right, she misses in the bottom of the net or in the fence. I’ve never seen such a great player her margins for missing are gigantic, you know, and like Serena would miss, it would just be like a foot outside the line or you know the great we’re talking the greats” she explained. For Stubbs, the difference between missing small and missing wildly could be the crack that shatters Sabalenka’s title defense.

Her observations grew even more unsettling. “The ball flies, but it’s rare. Sabalenka in practice over the last couple days, and I went and watched her indoors roof, closed Arthur Ashe Stadium, no variables, no sun. She’d have a mid-court forehand twenty feet long like that. That’s so weird, I don’t understand how you can’t,” Stubbs admitted, before cutting deeper still: “It’s like she doesn’t feel the ball, but when she’s hitting it’s amazing. Then she can play six points where you’re like where that come from? You like three times in a tie break. But ‌it’s the ups and downs for me with Sabalenka that must as a coach, I would be like absolutely, my sphincter would be so tight because no ball is regular.”

And then came the hammer drop, the most brutal assessment of all. “And so I’ve been watching her over the last couple of weeks and I’m concerned if she’s even going to get to the quarters the way she’s playing, and if she does, good luck,” Stubbs concluded. For a champion chasing rare history, that kind of doubt from a voice with Serena’s lineage cuts like a knife through the air.

Yet, Sabalenka has lived with heartbreak before. The scars of her Wimbledon semifinal defeat to Amanda Anisimova remain raw, a loss that derailed her summer ambitions and left her haunted on grass. But champions, true champions, rise not from their victories but from the ashes of their losses. 

And now, with the US Open looming, Sabalenka must turn Rennae Stubbs’ doubts into fuel, banishing ghosts and silencing critics as she attempts the near-impossible: defending a title at Flushing Meadows and proving once more that her fire still burns hotter than her flaws.

Sabalenka chases rare US Open repeat glory

As the reigning queen of Flushing Meadows, Aryna Sabalenka steps into the US Open with the heaviest crown of all, the defending champion’s burden. Sitting on 2000 WTA points that can only be matched by winning again, the Belarusian knows her margin for error is razor-thin. Today, she begins her quest against Rebeka Masarova, with the echoes of last year’s triumph over Jessica Pegula still fresh in memory.

“I think it’s a lot of pressure, definitely,” Sabalenka admitted. “Just because this place is so big, and it feels bigger than the other Slams in some ways. Maybe every time defending champions come and they put so much pressure on themselves. But I feel like I’m experienced enough to just focus on myself and try to replicate that result.”

The top seed makes no secret of her ambitions. “Well, of course ideally I would love to finish the season with a Grand Slam and world number one,” she said. “But I think if this goal is not going to be achieved, I’ll still think that this season’s been really amazing for me.” That blend of hunger and perspective might be her sharpest weapon yet.

So, can Sabalenka withstand the storm and script a rare US Open repeat? The stakes are towering, the pressure is relentless, but the fire in her words suggests she is ready to fight for glory. 

Follow her every swing and surge in the EssentiallySports live blog.