Aryna Sabalenka’s coach shares what he really thought when she said she wanted to ‘quit tennis’

Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Diana Shnaider in the quarter-finals of Roland Garros, but she grabbed even more headlines in her post-match interview.

The World No. 1 cut a desolate figure when speaking to press in Paris, where she solemnly said: “No thoughts, no emotions. Just want to quit tennis right now.”

Sabalenka has since revealed she spoke to a therapist following her Roland Garros defeat and her performance coach, Jason Stacy, has exclusively revealed to Tennis365 his thoughts about the World No. 1’s post-match interview in Paris.

Stacy revealed to us he had not spoken to Sabalenka between the defeat and her post-match interview, but he was still rational about his pupil’s emotional words.

More Aryna Sabalenka news

Aryna Sabalenka is in ‘a terrible state’ after ‘quit tennis’ remark at Roland Garros

Roland Garros issue strong response following complaints from Aryna Sabalenka

“Honestly, I don’t think I had any emotion behind it at all,” he said while talking to Tennis365 about his new book ‘The Pressure Code: How Elite Performers Align Their Energy, Emotions, and Environment‘.

“Overall, I realised what’s happening. She just lost the way, she lost all those kind of things.We’re just gonna let her go through that process, experience what she needs to give her some space, and when it’s time, we’ll catch up, and we’ll what’s what’s really going on, what’s left over, but I didn’t really have too much emotion.

“Obviously part of me wanted to run and help her. Obviously we want to come and help and rescue people, but also the other part is: You [have] just got to let them go through it and figure it out.

“I felt bad, obviously, for the whole team, they didn’t like experiencing that, but I didn’t really feed it much. She’s left her heart on her sleeve, and said, ‘Here I am.’

“Maybe she should have spent a little bit of time before going to the press conference, so she could be a little bit like settled, but that was really fresh, like right off the court.

“So you can imagine any of us, right, we have a really bad moment, and someone’s asking, ‘Hey, in the whole with the big cameras right in your face, like 10 minute film, right now it’s like right when you walk off. Right in the middle of a bad moment. So there’s what it is.”

Stacy reveals his ethos in performance coaching in his new book and he believes it helped him get Sabalenka back on track following Roland Garros.

“That’s always been the thing, I think that’s the same thing with that book we write about,” he said. The whole idea is you need to be you, any tool that you apply, anything that you try to find a way to get through, to achieve, or to survive, whatever the situation is for you, it’s like it has to come from you.”

Stacy believes Sabalenka’s rawness is one of her strengths and he will always allow her the ability to be her authentic self in front of the press.

“It has to be something that you connect with, that meet you where you’re at. Everything from these moments that she had, like really lows, but also our big highs, and everything between, you see her as just being her. You see, our team, we’re being ourselves.

“Obviously, it’s a time and place where right now, I’m not going to be swearing. There’s a time and place of how you maybe present yourself, but you’re still going to be who you are, and that goes even more so with how you deal with life and sports. Pressure, and pressure could be a good thing or a bad thing, it could be there’s a big opportunity for you.

“It could be there’s a huge obstacle for you, it’s not always like I’m facing some bad thing, you know, it’s just I think that’s the biggest part, so I don’t mind that, because again, that leaving her heart on her sleeve and just being open and honest that way, that is why we are where we are, we helped her develop this, and, and take embrace, and to be open to learn, learn more about herself.”

Sabalenka will next play the Berlin Open ahead of her appearance at Wimbledon, where she is looking to win the Grand Slam for the first time in her career.

Stacy’s book ‘The Pressure Code’, meanwhile, is set for release on September 8th.