Aryna Sabalenka told she is no John McEnroe as ‘only thing’ stopping her from winning Slams revealed
Aryna Sabalenka has been urged to “manage her emotions better” after having her first slamless year since 2022.
In the space of a few days, Sabalenka lost the No 1 ranking to Elena Rybakina and then was beaten by the 27-year-old in the US Open final for good measure.
The 28-year-old has now lost four of her last five Grand Slam finals, with questions repeatedly being asked of her mentality following some alarming collapses in the biggest matches.
In last year’s French Open final, Sabalenka seemed particularly bothered by the wind as she eventually lost to Coco Gauff, and 12 months on, in the Roland Garros quarter-finals, the Belarusian lost 10 games in a row in a disappointing defeat to Diana Shnaider.
Although US Open semi-finalist Jessica Pegula thinks the world No 2 is at her best when she is angry, top coach Patrick Mouratoglou thinks otherwise.
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He said on his YouTube channel, “I’m not here to give advice, but she definitely needs to figure out how to manage her emotions better.
“I think that’s the only thing that prevents her from being a number two in the world now and someone who doesn’t win Grand Slams anymore to someone who’s gonna win many more and who potentially can come back to number one.”
Serena Williams’ former mentor, and current part-time coach for Stefanos Tsitsipas, thinks there are similarities between the “ice cool” Bjorn Borg and Rybakina and the hot-headed Sabalenka and John McEnroe.
However, McEnroe was famous for playing his best when in a bad mood but Mouratoglou doesn’t think that’s the case for Sabalenka.
He added, “What I find very interesting is the fact that this final had the exact opposite in terms of personality. And they’re number one and number two in the world. One is fire. Do I have to say who the fire is? Aryna Sabalenka. One is ice. Do I have to say who the ice is? It’s Elena Rybakina.
“One is so calm, so much in control of her emotions. One is so fiery, so much out of control of her emotions. It reminds me of McEnroe and Borg. At that time, you had the ice; you had Borg, not one word, always in control of his emotions.
“And you had the fire. McEnroe breaking rackets, getting angry. Now, there is one difference between John McEnroe and Aryna Sabalenka. When McEnroe was getting angry, he was a much better player than when he was not angry.
“When Aryna Sabalenka gets angry, she loses her tennis. So for her to manage her emotion is such an important key compared to someone that plays his best tennis when he gets angry.”
