New York – While Iga Swiatek won her first Wimbledon title, Aryna Sabalenka was 2,500 miles away on the beach in Mykonos, Greece.
Despite the idyllic landscape, it was not exactly where Sabalenka wanted to be. Two days before, she also played on Center Court in search of her first final at the legendary major. But after she lost in a three-set heartbreaker to the final number two Amanda Anisimova, the world no. 1 knew that she needed a break, far away from London or somewhere with a tennis court.
While her season that included reaching the final on the Australian Open and the French Open, as well as 1000-level titles in Miami and Madrid-Zou are considered a huge success for almost everyone on tour, she could not help, but felt disappointed by getting short in a slam again.
The 27-year-old Sabalenka knew the “beautiful beach, the beautiful water and the delicious food” of the Greek island, exactly what could refuel. She spent seven days swimmingRead, lounge and, in her words, “Don’t do nothing.” The rare downtime during the debilitating, Globe-Trotting season enabled her to process everything that had happened throughout the year.
“It really gave me time to think about my approach for the big competitions, the mentality I have, the mentality I need and how it is different from the competitions earlier, and what should remain the same,” said Sabalenka ESPN in the Cincinnati Open earlier this month. “I realize that I have to respect my opponent a little more, really have to fight for every point, but I also have to respect myself more.
“Sometimes I think I completely forget who I am and what I have experienced and that I am really strong enough to literally tackle everything.”
Sabalenka now plays in her second tournament after her vacation and a short break of the sport, and is back in New York looking for her 2024 US Open title and her big season at the top again. On Wednesday she defeated Polina Kudermetova, 7-6 (4), 6-2, during a Nervy Night session at Arthur Ashe Stadium to continue to the third round.
With five games that only become more competitive between her and a coveted fourth slam trophy, Sabalenka will rely on her new life mentality and those newly learned lessons more than ever.
Hape Suggest by much more than her 27 years.
There was the sudden loss of her father in 2019, and the devastating suicide of her former partner Konstantin Koltsov open in 2024 before the Miami. On the field she suffered famous with the Yip’s over Serve in 2022 and it became so serious and so debilitating that she was considering the sport completely. In 2023 she was confronted with intense control of her relationship with De Wit -Russian President Alexander Lukashenko and the role of her native country in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In June she was broadly criticized for her attitude and comments in the defeat after losing the French Open Final to Coco Gauff. Not to mention the fact that countless injuries and incidental struggles have been sustained with motivated during the Tour.
Nothing has been easy. But Sabalenka believes that these challenges have made her resilient. So a difficult point during a competition? A literal game? That should be nothing.
But during the most crucial moments in the biggest matches this year – such as against Madison Keys in the Australian Open of Gauff in the French Open Final – Sabalenka was simply unable to do that. Instead of drilling self -confidence and self -confidence, she noticed that she was crumbling under the pressure. She would reconsider her decisions and stop her shots for her.
After she lost Van Keys in Melbourne and had ended her bid for a rare three-poll during the event, she put her racket in anger while the fans in the stadium watched.
“I just forget what I have experienced and my strength, and instead the doubts and all the negativity crawl into,” said Sabalenka. “And it’s because I’m just not really respecting myself enough.”
That frustration, in combination with an exhaustion that only increased with every tournament during the ruthless European clay and grass chapters, made Sabalenka clear that something had to change for her defense mission in New York. There would be no tennis in Mykonos, nor train. She wanted to let herself be missed and get in touch with whom she was outside a professional athlete. She knew this was the only way to win the American Open title.
While she was on a sunbod about six days after the trip, she still didn’t miss it per seBut she felt increasingly guilty about her lack of exercise. Because she did not want to completely disrupt her vacation vibes, she got up immediately and immediately walked behind her to the hotel’s gym.
“I didn’t even want to get my sneakers, so I was just in my bikini and my slippers,” said Sabalenka. “I didn’t want to do the bike, I didn’t want to run, so I just did a 30 -minute walk with a slope on the treadmill. I felt great and tired, and I had something like that, now I can go back and enjoy guilt -free.”
Although she no longer succeeded during the trip, they post on social media. But that didn’t feel like a job or obligation. In recent years, Sabalenka has found joy in making content. Often accompanied by members of her team – who have become recognizable social media figures in itself – Sabalenka often takes part in different dance and other trends on Tiktok, and shares photos and excerpts of her life on Instagram. Although known for her aggressive, powerful game style and intimidating grunts on the field, she enjoyed the opportunity to show fans who she really is.
The experience and feedback had been so positive that this summer she started her own YouTube series behind the scenes to go even more in-depth. Called “Ary’s Arena“The seventh episode, aimed at its open activities before the US, was posted this week. After her comments after the final at the French were open, according to her, misunderstood, Sabalenka believes that the channel fans allowed her to know her better as a person.
“I like to share myself,” she said. “I just like to throw myself outside and make sure that the next time people go to court who support me, they know that ‘okay, she is crazy now, she is focused, she screams, screams, but we know the other side of Aryna. ‘So I just want to feel a little more connected to people. “
It has also allowed her to change her energy into something away from tennis. Sabalenka is involved in a large part of the production, from coming up with the ideas for episodes to determine the ideal length for each. Although her first six episodes were all in the reach of five minutes, the newest is a little longer that she had pushed on since the beginning. The series has more than a million views at the time of this writing.
During her earlier For years on tour, Sabalenka would take a while to get its shape on the tennis court after a break. She would like everything to be perfect as soon as she returned and was upset that it was not. But that is no longer the case. Now she embraces the initial discomfort.
“These days I just take it easy, I am not hurry,” said Sabalenka. “We don’t get crazy about intensity. We just try to remember my body slowly:” Okay, this is what you actually do for a living. ” And with this mentality, one, two hits and you feel the rhythm of movement, the feeling of the ball. “
Sabalenka chose to skip the Canadian open, which started at the end of July, and called fatigue in her formal announcement, which explained that the decision would give her “the best chance of success this season”. While her colleagues were in Montreal, Sabalenka trained in Miami, her home base, with her team.
The extra time enabled her to really relieve back and prepare herself mentally and physically for New York. She returned to Cincinnati, also as a title defender, and wanted to get back to the field. She won her first three games, including a three-set thriller by 2021 US Open Champion Emma Raducanu, but eventually lost to former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, 6-1, 6-4, in the quarterfinals. While Rybakina was powered by a particularly dominant serving outing, Sabalenka never seemed to find any momentum in the game and hardly looked like the unassailable power she had been in earlier parts of the season and in 2024.
That performance, combined with her results during the season, has not gained the trust about her chances of hoisting the trophy next week.
‘She’s been consistent [and] She arrived at the end of these major tournaments, but the nerves stand in the way, “said former world no. 4 and the current ESPN analyst Mary Joe Fernandez for the US Open.” I just feel the last few weeks, she is struggling a bit. I feel like her backhand that is usually a force is to let her down a lot. We will see if she mentally put it together. “
Of course things can quickly change to tennis. And Sabalenka is better able than to turn most things quickly.
“If she plays well, watch out of course,” Fernandez added. “She can get the racket out of someone’s hand.”
Because of her first two games, Sabalenka sometimes appeared a formidable enemy as everyone in the draw. Although her match against Kudermetova was far from her best, and she was broken in the opening match and needed a tiebreak to conquer the first set, she still found a way to win. Even when she was clearly frustrated at different times. She later said that she reminded herself that “every point can be an important moment of the set” and that realization motivated her to continue to play aggressively and stay mentally strong.
She had little doubt about who the better player was in the second set. Sabalenka currently has the second best chance of winning the tournament, behind only Swiateek, according to ESPN Bet.
Then she will be on Friday in the third round in the third round in a rematch of their semi-final match four years ago in the third round 2021 US Open Runner-Up and no. 31 Seed Leyh Fernandez in a rematch of their semi-final. A reviving Rybakina or a red -hot Raducanu could possibly wait and be her first real test, in the quarterfinals.
Sabalenka has made clear how much she wants to win again at the US Open. She has repeatedly called it her favorite tournament and it has been her unique goal in recent months. By hearing herself introduced to the crowd as the reigning champion, and the subsequent reception of the crowd, she only wanted her to want more.
But nothing in tennis is guaranteed, regardless of how much someone wants it. Sabalenka knows that she might walk away empty-handed and end her year without a slam title. And for someone who has experienced as much as she, that would be good too.
For now, anyway.
“Of course I would ideally end the season with a Grand Slam and [the year-end] World No. 1, “Sabalenka said before the tournament started.” But I think if this goal is not achieved, I still think this season [has] Was really great for me. All those difficult lessons I learned this season [are] I’m only going to make myself stronger for the next one.
‘I will work even harder in the preseason to take care of it next year [is] Is alone [a] year [full] From success, such as real success. “
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