Aryna Sabalenka admits she could have made ‘better decision’ after ex-partner’s death
Aryna Sabalenka has revealed she wished she had made “a better decision” after the tragic death of her ex-partner – and spent time away from the sport to deal with her loss.
Sabalenka’s former partner, Belarusian ice hockey star Konstantin Koltsov, passed away aged 42 back in March in Miami – just days before the world No 2’s Miami Open campaign was set to get underway.
The two-time Australian Open champion decided to stay in Miami and play the WTA 1000 event, reaching round three and playing a full schedule in the following months.
However, in an interview with The Guardian ahead of the US Open, the 26-year-old revealed that the mental strain left her “struggling” and harmed her mental health.
Sabalenka said: “Once, I lost my father and tennis helped me to go through that tough loss.
“So at that moment [of Koltsov’s death] I thought I had to just keep going, keep playing, keep doing my thing to separate my personal life from my career life.
“But at the end I would say I was struggling a lot healthwise because I didn’t stop. It was really emotional and really stressful, and kind of damaged my mental health at that point.
“Probably, looking back right now, I would say that a better decision would have been to step back, reset and recharge, and start everything over again. But I did what I did.
“At the end I paid for my decision, but I’m really glad that I have tennis in my life and it’s really helped me go through whatever and get stronger.”
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Sabalenka was ultimately set to spend time away from the court this summer due to a shoulder.
The Belarusian was forced to miss Wimbledon due to the injury and it took her time to recapture her best in her first two tournaments back, in Washington and Toronto.
However, Sabalenka arrives at the US Open as the favourite for the title after her Cincinnati Open victory and believes the break helped strengthen her physical and mental health.
She added: “I realised it only after I was injured and had to step back that actually it was something much needed.
“It was really sad and I was struggling a lot not to play Wimbledon, of course, but at the same time I was able to take all the benefits from the time. I was doing a lot of rehab and treatment, but I was able to enjoy my life and my time away from tennis, and take all the good sides of not competing on tour.
“At the end I figured out that it was much needed. Now I feel physically and mentally much better and much stronger.”
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