By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Sunday, May 25, 2025
Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Tennis is a solo sport, but remains a family affair for Aryna Sabalenka.
Sabalenka’s beloved father Sergey introduced her to tennis after driving by a local tennis court when she was six years old. Her father instinctively felt his daughter would love the game, turned around and brought her back to the tennis court.
World No. 1 Sabalenka launched her quest for a maiden Roland Garros title today dispensing the biggest beat-down of her French Open career. Sabalenka stormed through nine straight games crushing Kamilla Rakhimova 6-1, 6-0 to reach the Roland Garros second round with her most lopsided win in Paris.
Afterward, Sabalenka shared her parents were never pushy or demanding when it came to her tennis.
In fact, the US Open champion said her parents only made on request of her: Don’t smash racquets on court.
Spoiler alert: Sabalenka did not fulfill that request.
“My parents weren’t the ones pushing me too much,” Sabalenka told the media in Paris. “The only one request they had is stop hitting the racquets, which I wasn’t really following that order, I’d say.
“But I definitely say that Eastern European school is very tough. I think that’s why whoever survive that school, they’re really tough.”
The 2023 Roland Garros semifinalist said her experience of Belarusian tennis training is a double-edged sword.
On the one hand, Sabalenka said surviving her junior training made her a tougher competitor, but on the other hand she saw some fellow players broken by “brutal” coaches making punishing demands.
“I have to say that probably because of the environment and in the history of European countries, we are much tougher,” Sabalenka told the media in Paris. “Whoever got through the tough stuff, they, like, mentally and physically, they much stronger than probably, not like the rest of the world, but most of the girls on tour…
“I definitely think that the environment we have in our countries, which is like very tough and coaches are very brutal, you know, there is nothing nice about the way they, like, work with their players, they quite rude. I think that’s why maybe our mentality is much stronger, but also, the same time, they kind of like broke so many players because of that aggressive mindset.
“I think in Europe and the States, the environment is much healthier.”
