- Aryna Sabalenka has given reasons why she won the Australian Open
- Her victory is pushing her to be better
- She will work harder to clinch a second title
Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka says she won the first Grand Slam of the year because of her focus.
Speaking in Dubai at the pre-tournament press conference, Sabalenka said that there is so much to gain by staying focused and the Melbourne win is a perfect example.
“I would like to just focus on myself because I think the only thing why I won Australian Open is because I was focusing on myself,” Sabalenka said.
By default, there are more expectations of her since her Australian Open win. However, she is not letting the pressure of expectations get to her.
Her first Grand Slam victory changed her mindset to some extent but she is aware that the end result depends on how hard she works.
Aryna Sabalenka won the 2023 Australian Open. Photo/Herald Sun
Thus, whenever she is playing, she is aware that she has to show that she is in the proper place. Her win in Melbourne hasn’t changed her tennis values and now more than ever, she is determined to keep getting better.
“Yeah, I want more. ‘Motivation’, this is the word. More motivation to work hard, just to feel it again,” Tennis 365 reports.
Despite her victory in January 2023, she took so many losses in 2022 and it helped her believe in herself. She put in the work and took the trophy.
Sabalenka put a lot of effort towards improving her serve in order to address a playing technique problem that made her service game unpredictable.
She thinks that by always working to raise her game, she may gain more.
Sabalenka made history after winning the 2023 Australian Open, just after convincing her coach Anton Dubrov not to leave in 2022.
The Belarusian tennis player said Dubrov wanted to quit because she wasn’t performing as well in 2022 as he expected. However, she convinced him to stay, saying he wasn’t to blame for her performance in the WTA Tour 2022.
“There was a moment last year when he said ‘I think I’m done, I can’t give you anything else’ and I was like ‘No, it’s not you, we just have to work through these tough moments & we’ll come back stronger,” she recalled emotionally after winning her first slam according to Nine’s Wide World of Sports.
Dubrov broke down immediately after Sabalenka won, greatly touching the Belarusian who faced off with Kazakh Elena Rybakina.
Aryna Sabalenka. Photo/ The SportsLite.
At the beginning of the 2022 season, Sabalenka was having trouble with her game, mainly her serve.
Dubrov very bluntly and clearly informed Sabalenka in February that he might not be the best coach for her. But Sabalenka insisted on sticking with Dubrov because she thought he was the best trainer for her.
Sabalenka recalls Dublov telling her to get another coach who would offer her more because he clearly couldn’t offer her anything more. However, she knew the problem wasn’t her coach but her hardest task was finding out what exactly was wrong.
Looking at Melbourne’s success, she is happy that she continued working with Dublov, which amplifies the power of teamwork.
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