They are now opening up the roof on the Rod Laver arena and soon both players will be making their way onto the court for the “walk of champions” in front of 14,820 fans.

Sabalenka is 4-1 against Keys, with her most memorable win against the American coming at the was the 2023 US Open semifinal. Keys led the Belarusin 6-0, 5-3 before Sabalenka came back to win 0-6, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (5), preventing Keys from making the final in front of a home crowd.

I think one of the big things, after I lost to Aryna at the US Open, I felt like I tried to play safe, and I wasn’t playing how I wanted to in the big moments. That felt so bad. I just felt like if I can go out and do what I want to do and really just, again, be uncomfortable at times and just actually go for it and continue to play the way I play my best tennis, and I lose, then I can walk away and say, ‘OK, I did my best, she beat me, that’s fine.’

I didn’t want to be in the same situation where I kind of looked back at it and thought, Man, I should have gone for it. I didn’t want to have any regrets for not really laying it all out there.

Keys’s first grand slam final was a loss to Sloane Stephens at the 2017 US Open and by repeating the feat in Australia, she has become the player with the most slam appearances between her first and second major finals (25), besting the previous mark of 24 set by Marion Bartoli and Amelie Mauresmo.

The 29-year-old is the oldest women’s singles finalist in Melbourne since the Williams sisters in 2017 and has defeated has defeated two top 10 opponents during her run to today’s final (Elena Rybakina and Iga Swiatek).

Paula Badosa, Sabalenka’s latest victim in the semi-final, likened playing her close friend to an unbeatable video game. “With Aryna, it’s more like winners everywhere. Sometimes you’re like, I don’t know, I’m just walking around the court because I feel like she’s playing a PlayStation.”

The world No 1 would tie the Open era record of three straight titles held by Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles and Martina Hingis with a win against Keys.

She opened her season with the title at the Brisbane International and is 11-0 so far this year.

Tumaini Carayol is at Melbourne Park and writes in his preview:

As she returns to Rod Laver Arena to battle the two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, Keys will walk on to the court with plenty of reasons to be nervous, with memories of her first grand-slam final experience and a painful three-sets loss to the Belarusian in the semi-finals of the 2023 US Open. But with time, introspection and 16 years of experience behind her, Keys has learned to accept the stress that comes with these lofty occasions.

Preamble