By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Monday, February 19, 2024
Aryna Sabalenka delivered dominance efficiently defending her Australian Open title final month.
Nearly a month faraway from her magical Melbourne run, Sabalenka says defending a significant nonetheless evokes a way of pleasure and disbelief.
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“I’m still shocked I was able to win back to back Australian Open,” Sabalenka advised the media in Dubai. “It’s a dream. Yeah, I couldn’t even dream about that.”
While the explosive Belarusian’s expansive sport makes her an all-surface risk, for years her volatility and psychological fragility made Sabalenka her personal worst enemy.
These days, Sabalenka is displaying psychological energy when it issues most.
Champions say the hardest process in tennis is defending a Grand Slam title.
Sabalenka is the primary girl to defend the AO since her Belarusian compatriot, Victoria Azarenka, beat Li Na to grab her second straight Australian Open title in 2013.
The 5 video games Sabalenka permitted in her remaining conquest of Zheng Qinwen made it probably the most overwhelming AO remaining victory since Azarenka destroyed Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-0 within the 2012 remaining.
How has Sabalenka reworked herself from self-implosive underachiever, to fierce main fighter who has reaches the semifinals or higher in her final six straight Grand Slams?
The world No. 2 says it is all about connecting to the facility of 1.
“I had psychologist for four or five years. I don’t even remember how many years, but four or five,” Sabalenka stated. “We worked a lot. She helped me a lot. I mean, I guess I was always searching for something which can help me to control myself better.
“After some years working with psychologist, I simply determined to type of, like, take the accountability on myself, simply to, I do not know, begin to, as I stated, take the accountability and do not wait to anyone show you how to to repair one thing.”
Ultimately, Sabalenka stated she determined to her to serve herself and take cost of her challenges.
Self-empowerment has yielded success. Sabalenka has surged to an 11-1 begin to the season, shaking the label of 1 Slam marvel whereas chasing the world No. 1 rating.
“I feel like no one know better yourself than you,” Sabalenka stated. “I think, like, yeah, that was the best decision to kind of, yeah, start.
“I do not know find out how to say. It’s powerful to say as a result of it has been lengthy course of. I’ve been looking for issues. I’ve been studying a number of books, working with psychologists.
“At the end the only one thing help me is just myself, just stop expecting people to fix my problems, start fixing my problems by myself. I think that’s brought much more confidence and much more control.”
Photo credit score: Mutua Madrid Open Facebook
Source: www.tennisnow.com
