For Aryna Sabalenka, Tennis Is A Welcome Distraction

By Richard Osborn

Don’t let the all those smiling selfies fool you. The day-to-day, week-to-week grind of the WTA Tour isn’t all fun and frolic. There are highs and lows both on and off the tennis court. Yes, there are indelible, thrill-of-victory celebrations, when all the hours, all the match prep, pays off. But there are also devastating defeats and injury setbacks, not to mention all that goes on in these elite athletes’ personal lives.

Aryna Sabalenka, the back-to-back Australian Open champion who last year climbed to No. 1, isn’t afraid to put herself out there. One look at her Instagram profile and you just know she oozes personality. But even the oft-bubbly 26-year-old will tell you that it takes some effort to manage the ups and downs.

“Tennis-wise, every week is a new tournament. You better have a short memory,” she said on Tuesday ahead of her Cincinnati Open opener. “That’s the thing that helps to keep you moving, keep working hard, keep improving. And every loss is actually an extra maturation for me to work harder, to improve things that didn’t work in the match I lost. If you’re there fighting for every point, and if you’re truly giving everything you have in practices, in matches, you’re going to have your opportunities.”

The woman with the tiger tattoo has been hit with much personal loss in recent years.  Her beloved father, Sergey, passed away suddenly in November 2020 at the age of 43. And this March, just ahead of the Miami Open, her ex-boyfriend, the former professional ice hockey player Konstantin Koltsov, died of an apparent suicide. All this as she’s in the prime of her career.

“In my personal life, that’s a tricky one,” she said.

“I think it’s really good that I have tennis, I have something to keep me distracted, keep me away from all those tough challenges in life. Also having really great people around whom you can trust, talk openly, just be you and talk through everything you’re going through, that’s really important. It’s helpful for just staying positive and keep focusing on your dreams and your goals in life.”

A decade into her pro career, Sabalenka now counts some of her colleagues among those she can turn to. That wasn’t necessarily the case when she broke onto the tour as a teen.

“As a young player coming up on the tour, you’re still learning, you’re trying to figure out what’s going on. What you hear about the tour is that nobody’s friendly, that everyone is tricky and there’s no friendship in the women’s sport,” she explained. “That’s all you hear. When you’re coming inside this community, you’re just trying to be protective. You’re so focused on you. You are kind of afraid to open up. With the years, you realize that this is not how it works.”

“Of course, there are going to be girls who act that way,” she continued. “Of course, there are girls who are the same way you are and you can be friends with them. It all comes with experience. Right now, I feel a little bit looser about that stuff. I feel like if I’m ready to play, nothing can get me distracted by being friends with your rivals, with other players. It’s not going to damage your tennis. As soon as I realized that, it got easier, more friendly, more fun.”

A three-time semifinalist in Cincinnati (2018, 2022-23), Sabalenka is looking to take the next step this year, to maybe even take the title. What will it take for her to get there? 

“That’s a good question,” she said with a smile. “As you see, I’m kind of trying to figure out what I need to do to get to the final here. But I don’t want to focus on that. I want to focus step by step and make sure every time I’m on the court I bring my best tennis. If I’m able to do that in a semifinal, I’ll be able to get to the final.”