New Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka did not get a lot sleep Saturday evening after a rambunctious come-from-behind victory, however you would not have identified it early on the morning after.
“I still feel like I’m on another planet trying to understand what just happened,” Sabalenka replied to a query from AFP whereas reveling in a photograph shoot at Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens.
Resplendent in a glamorous pink gown and carrying excessive heels as a substitute of her common tennis pumps, Sabalenka took to a ship and glided round a lake with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup clutched firmly in hand.
The highly effective Belarusian, who will change into world No. 2 Monday, confirmed a brand new facet to her character, posing effortlessly in entrance of the cameras.
She even managed a number of excessive kicks, regardless of being understandably stiff after being taken to 3 grueling units lower than 12 hours earlier by Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
“How are you still managing to do that?” she was requested.
“I have no idea,” a barely wincing however ebullient Sabalenka laughed, earlier than cracking open a bottle of champagne and spraying it in celebration, Formula One-style.
“I like to pose. Especially when you’re a champion,” she chuckled, when requested whether or not she was having fun with the trimmings that include being a serious winner.
“I think it’s the best morning of my life. It’s so beautiful.”
Serenely being photographed by the world’s media at considered one of Melbourne’s most picturesque areas was a scene Sabalenka may have scarcely imagined 12 months earlier.
Her serve was in items, leaving her in tears as her confidence was shredded beneath assaults of debilitating nerves.
Now Sabalenka is having fun with the sensation of changing into a Grand Slam champion on the age of 24 – and eventually conquering her internal demons.
‘It’s simply too loopy’
Never was that new psychological metal higher illustrated than beneath the glare of the Rod Laver Arena lights on Saturday evening, the place Sabalenka dropped her first set of 2023 however clawed her manner again to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
She wanted 4 match factors to serve out and clear the ultimate hurdle, a double fault costing considered one of them as the stress grew to become nearly insufferable.
But this new model of Sabalenka retains calm and carries on the place the previous one would have wilted.
“I’m always thinking about the match about some points and especially the last game,” stated Sabalenka about what was her maiden Grand Slam closing.
“But it’s just too crazy, there’s so many thoughts in my head and I’m just trying to relax for a second.”
The Saturday evening victory celebration will need to have been one – there have been a number of group members lacking on Sunday morning.
“It was a funny night, everyone was just too happy, so some of us didn’t make it today, it was too much last night,” Sabalenka laughed.
So what now for the Belarusian, who might be a marked girl and regarded very in a different way when she subsequent hits the circuit as a reigning Grand Slam champion?
“Yeah, it’s going to be different,” she admitted and stated she would wish a while off earlier than returning to the WTA circuit within the Middle East subsequent month.
“I think I’m going to play only Dubai (beginning Feb. 19), because I need some time to rest, just to calm down from everything that has happened and start over again.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com
