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.
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.
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. I’ve been through a lot on and…
