Aryna Sabalenka is again on high. For the second yr in a row, the Belarusian tennis professional has received the ladies’s singles U.S. Open title.
After a 2025 stuffed with disappointments, Sabalenka withstood a last match towards American professional Amanda Anisimova, the identical participant who trounced Sabalenka within the Wimbledon semifinals in July. Sabalenka, who’s presently the world No. 1 ranked ladies’s singles participant, held off a late-match rally from Anisimova to clinch the win at 6-3, 7-6 (3).
On foot, Anisimova laced up her trusty Nike Vapor 12 sneakers in a custom-made colorway. The Belarusian star wore two completely different variations of the mannequin all through the U.S. Open — one sporting fierce tiger-inspired striping and a second white, pink and silver look adorned with glitzy silver stars — earlier than finally defending her title within the latter look.
Each Nike Vapor 12 pairs characteristic specific nods to Sabalenka “The Tiger” nickname together with a graphic of the cat on the tongue. The starry pair worn by Sabalenka within the finals references her walk-out apparel and the “elevated flash of New York vogue and nightlife,” a Nike spokesperson informed tennis outlet The Second Serve.
An in depth view of the footwear of Aryna Sabalenka on the courtroom towards Leylah Fernandez of Canada throughout their Ladies’s Singles Third Spherical match on Day Six of the 2025 U.S. Open at USTA Billie Jean King Nationwide Tennis Heart on August 29, 2025 within the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York Metropolis.
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“There have been a couple of moments the place I used to be like this shut to simply letting it go,” Sabalenka admitted in a post-match press convention. “However I used to be like, ‘Come on now. You can not try this. You simply have to remain centered and hold going, hold making an attempt.’ And it’s actually helped me.”
Sabalenka’s triumph comes after a yr of uncharacteristic disappointments in majors competitors for the star. In January, whereas trying to safe her third straight Australian Open win, Sabalenka was defeated within the finals by America’s Madison Keys. The French Open adopted, the place Sabalenka once more reached the finals earlier than falling to Coco Gauff. And in September, at Wimbledon, Sabalenka fell to Anisimova within the semifinals.
A detailed up of Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus sneakers vs Switzerland’s Rebeka Masarova in the course of the Ladies’s Singles First Spherical match at USTA Billie Jean King Nationwide Tennis Heart.
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However Saturday spelled a return to profitable kind for Sabalenka, who captured her second straight U.S. Open title. The profitable protection makes her the primary lady since Serena Williams in 2013 and 2014 to win consecutive U.S. Opens.
The U.S. Open males’s singles last takes place Sunday at 2 p.m. ET from Arthur Ashe Stadium and can pit Italian professional Jannik Sinner towards Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz.
Whereas Sabalenka’s customized Nike Vapor 12s usually are not accessible for buy, different kinds of the tennis shoe can be found now from nike.com, with choose colorways on sale for $126.97 and others priced on the mannequin’s customary retail of $180.
Aryna Sabalenka celebrates a degree towards Amanda Anisimova of the US throughout their Ladies’s Singles Closing match on Day Fourteen of the 2025 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King Nationwide Tennis Heart on September 06, 2025 in New York Metropolis.
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