Aryna Sabalenka is decided to not develop into complacent, placing in important effort in the course of the offseason to construct upon her spectacular 2023 efficiency. Her focus is on enhancing her expertise as she prepares to defend her Grand Slam title on the upcoming Australian Open.
The 25-year-old Belarusian encountered a setback over the weekend when Elena Rybakina, her opponent in final 12 months’s Melbourne Park ultimate, ended her 15-match profitable streak in Australia with a crushing 6-0, 6-3 victory within the Brisbane International ultimate.
Despite a lot scowling and head-shaking in the course of the all-too-brief contest, Sabalenka rapidly laughed off her unhealthy day on the workplace and shifted her focus to her subsequent project on the 12 months’s first Grand Slam.
This response marks a major enchancment from the Sabalenka of solely a few years in the past – a participant armed with all of the weapons to compete for the sport’s main prizes however who crumbled right into a tearful mess on the first signal of a setback.
“After the (2022) season, I decided to change my approach to tennis, just let it go, don’t get crazy on court, try to control myself better, don’t lose myself after tough points or whatever,” she defined in Brisbane.
“Since then, I noticed that it is bringing me a lot management over myself and management within the sport that it is not essential to throw rackets. You miss the purpose, that is okay, simply transfer on and take a look at to consider what you are able to do higher within the subsequent one.
“This kind of approach really helped me last season. Hopefully, I can improve that kind of thinking this season.”
Last 12 months, Sabalenka additionally reached the U.S. Open ultimate and the semifinals on the French Open and Wimbledon, changing into the primary girl to succeed in at the least the final 4 in any respect the majors in a single season since Serena Williams in 2016.
This accomplishment buried her repute as a Grand Slam underperformer and he or she would have ended the 12 months as world No. 1 however for a loss to Iga Swiatek within the semifinals of the WTA Finals in Mexico.
She can be the primary to confess that there stays some work to be accomplished in utterly banishing her demons after shedding final 12 months’s French Open semifinal regardless of holding a match level and her Wimbledon semi from a set and a breakup.
The reply for the lady who bears a tattoo of a tiger on her arm is figure, work and extra work.
“I’m working a lot on my serve. I still think there are a lot of things to improve on my serve,” she added.
“I’m additionally attempting to step in somewhat bit extra on courtroom, acknowledge the brief strategy pictures, attempt to transfer ahead as an alternative of staying on the baseline.
“It’s been a lot of work in the preseason. As we say, hard work pays off. Hopefully, it’s going to pay off.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com
