Australian Open star copies Anna Kournikova in all the wrong ways

World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka caught a shocking case of the yips as she channelled Anna Kournikova in the worst way imaginable.

World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka managed to bounce back after her serve fell apart yet again, recovering from a set down to beat Xinyu Wang from China 1-6 6-4 6-2.

Sabalenka’s serving has imploded in 2022 and it hit a disturbing new low in the opening set of her second round clash at the Australian Open, sending down double faults with alarming regularity.

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The Belarusian recorded a whopping 12 double faults in the first set — including an astonishing nine double faults in her opening two service games alone.

Veteran New York Times tennis reporter Christopher Clarey likened the capitulation to former star Anna Kournikova, who famously got a case of the serving “yips” in the late 1990s.

“Memories of Kournikova in Australia. The second-serve yips of No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka, who double faults SIX times in the opening game to go down against Wang,” Clarey tweeted.

Between October 1998 and her exit from the following year’s Australian Open, Kournikova recorded 182 double faults in just 10 matches.

In her second round clash against Miho Saeki at Melbourne Park in 1999, the Russian wrote herself into the history books for all the wrong reasons with a record 31 double faults. When she lost in the fourth round, Kournikova had dropped a total of 73 double faults during the grand slam.

Sabalenka was struggling big time on serve. (Photo by Paul Crock / AFP)

Anna Kournikova knows what it’s like to get the yips.

Sabalenka was digging herself a hole early in the match against world No. 100 Wang and tennis fans were finding it tough to watch. At one stage in the first set, the second seed had sent down 117 second serves in 2022 — for 57 double faults.

ESPN tennis analyst Brad Gilbert tweeted: “Never seen 9 doubles in 2 service games this is so sad to see. Seen players have horrendous ball toss woes, unfortunately so many things going wrong with serv atm for Sable.”

Commentator Jose Morgado wrote: “This is almost impossible to watch.”

This is unreal. pic.twitter.com/oamcl1oXhl

— José Morgado (@josemorgado) January 20, 2022

But Sabalenka regained her composure and stormed towards an impressive comeback victory — eventually finishing with 19 double faults for the match.

“I’ve already had a lot of experience with playing without the serve, and I kept telling myself you have enough other shots to win the game even without the serve,” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview.

There were warning signs for Sabalenka heading into the first major of the year. The world No. 2’s Aussie summer from hell started with a loss to Slovenia’s world No. 100 Kaja Juvan then hit a grim low last week when she lost to lowly-ranked Rebecca Peterson of Sweden 5-7 6-1 7-5 in her opening match of the Adelaide International 2.

The 23-year-old — who made two grand slam semi-finals last year at Wimbledon and the US Open — had been tipped for a big 2022 but her serve has deserted her.

Against Peterson, Sabalenka couldn’t get a serve in to save herself, recording 21 double faults and more than 50 unforced errors. Several of her serves either sailed way past the service box or barely made it the distance and hit the net.

She even resorted to serving underarm — and not in a cheeky Nick Kyrgios way.

At one stage the chair umpire intervened, asking Sabalenka if she was carrying an injury, to which she responded: “Nothing is wrong. It’s a technical problem.”

With Matthew Sullivan