Aryna Sabalenka says some pretty tough and challenging life experiences made her very strong mentally and she believes that played a big part in her success over the last couple of years.
After experiencing a very traumatic experience in 2019 and losing her father to a sudden death, the Belarusian also struggled to make a big Grand Slam breakthrough and all of that led to the infamous 2022 struggles.
However, since the start of 2023, Sabalenka has arguably been the best player in the game since she has made the most Grand Slam finals (5) and has also won the most Slams (3). Also, she has been the top-ranked player in the game since overthrowing Iga Swiatek from the top spot last September.
12 months ago, Sabalenka’s ex-boyfriend Konstantin Koltsov committed suicide just before the start of the Miami Open. That was another very traumatic experience to go through. A year later, she has reached her first Miami final.
Sabalenka asked if she conducted some training to improve her mental strength
“Honestly, I don’t know. I think I had a lot of challenges to overcome and I think that’s what made me a very tough person. Whenever I’m struggling with something, I’m just keeping reminding myself how tough I am, how strong I am, and that I can handle anything. So I think that’s the mindset going into anything in life basically, not only tennis,” the 26-year-old said on Tennis Channel.
On Thursday, Sabalenka annihilated two-time Grand Slam finalist Jasmine Paolini 6-2 6-2 in the Miami semifinal. For the top-seeded Belarusian, it was her fifth straight-set win in South Beach over the last 10 days.
Next up for Sabalenka will be her career-ninth meeting against Jessica Pegula – she leads their head-to-head 6-2. When they met the last time, the Belarusian won their US Open final 7-5 7-5 to lift her first trophy at Flushing Meadows.
