Aryna Sabalenka says all the pain and adversity ultimately ended up paying off because it made her mentally stronger and led to her becoming the player she is today.
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On Saturday, the 26-year-old lifted her third Grand Slam title after overcoming home favorite Jessica Pegula in a tight two-set US Open final 7-5 7-5. For the Belarusian, this marked two milestones - she became a champion at Flushing Meadows and also landed two Majors in the same season for the first time in her career.
But before she won two consecutive Australian Open titles and reached back-to-back finals in New York, she suffered a couple of heartbreaking losses on the biggest stage - she lost three Slam semifinals before finally making her first Major final at Melbourne Park in 2023 January.
Also, there was the issue with her serve in 2022 when Sabalenka dealt with some kind of a mental block and was blasting double faults and serving poorly throughout the year before hiring a biomechanics coach to help her fix her woes.
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Off the court, the 26-year-old also went through some extremely traumatic experiences - her father suddenly died in 2019 while her ex-boyfriend Konstantin Koltsov committed suicide earlier this year in Miami.
I think mentally I became really strong. Ive been through a lot on and off the court. I just figured out for myself how to control my emotions and stay balanced on court. Even when things arent going my way I just keep reminding myself Come on Aryna. Youve been through a lot. Its just a tennis match. You can handle these emotions. You just have to focus on the things you have to do to win. Slowly things will get better for you. I think that was the biggest change. I guess I figured out how to control my emotions," the Belarusian tennis superstar said on ESPN following her US Open win.
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Sabalenka went through pain before lifting a title at Flushing Meadows
As mentioned above, the world No. 2 lost her first couple of Grand Slam semifinals. And two of those three Major losses in the last-four stage came at the US Open in 2021 and 2022. Then, it should not be forgotten that the Belarusian won the opening set 6-2 against Coco Gauff in last year's final in New York before the American stormed back to win 2-6 6-3 6-2.
In the past, Sabalenka three times fell just short of collecting a US Open title. But this time, it happened for the 26-year-old.
"I remember all those tough losses in the past here. Its going to sound easy but never give up on your dreams and just keep trying, keep working hard. If youre really working hard and youre sacrificing everything for a dream, youre going to get it one day. Im just super proud of myself. I never say that, but really guys, Im super proud of myself, Im proud of my team that no matter what, no matter which situation we were facing, this season and in the past, we were able to go through it and get all those beautiful trophies," she recalled.
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Sabalenka on her late father and what she wanted to accomplish
Five years ago, Sergey Sabalenka passed away at the age of 43. And that's when the Belarusian tennis star promised herself she would do some major things in tennis and make sure everyone heard about her family in a positive way. And now that she has three Slams in her collection, there is no doubt that she will one day go down as one of the best players from her generation.
"After I lost my father, it's always been my goal to put our family name in the history of tennis. And every time I see my name on that trophy, I'm so proud of myself, I'm proud of my family that they never gave up on my dream. And that they were doing everything they could to keep me going. And so I had this opportunity in life. So it really means a lot. And yeah, that's just, it's just always been my dream, and I still kind of cannot believe that I was able to achieve, like, me with my team, were able to achieve so much already," Sabalenka noted in her presser.
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In the past, the world No. 2 revealed that she and her late father had a goal for her to have two Majors by the age of 25. And it happened because Sabalenka's second Australian Open triumph came four months before her 25th birthday.
