Ex-Olympic gold medalist makes telling Aryna Sabalenka prediction amid form struggles
Former Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig believes that Aryna Sabalenka needs a “reset” amid a difficult 2026 season.
It is now 10 tournaments and counting since Sabalenka lifted the Miami Open title in late March, with the 28-year-old enduring her first slamless campaign since 2023.
The Belarusian has been deposed as the world No 1 by Elena Rybakina, who also beat her in the finals of the Australian Open and US Open this year. After her opening round defeat to Ann Li in Wuhan, question marks are mounting over what is going wrong for the world No 2.
Last year, Sabalenka revealed how she got rid of her sports psychologist, arguing that, “Nobody but me can truly help me.” However, following her shock French Open exit to Diana Shnaider, she admitted she called her old psychologist for help again.
Now, 2016 Gold medalist Puig has observed that Sabalenka is getting far too flustered very early in matches and that she plays her best tennis when she is calm and collected. The Puerto Rican also felt going down the psychologist route was a good idea.
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She said on the Inside-In podcast, “When she has been at her best mentally, she has been her most even self. I have noticed very early on in matches, in the first game even, she is getting frustrated with herself.
“She said, ‘I know myself better than anybody else. I know what I need, I don’t need a psychologist’. And you know what, good for her. Because there are a lot of people who can’t figure that out, I couldn’t figure that out on my own.
“But maybe she needs to go back to that and sit with herself and do a little bit of self-reflection: ‘Why am I getting so worked up and angry so early on in matches?’ You know when you read a book, you can’t tell what’s going to happen at the end of the book from the first chapter.
“Why am I getting so flustered in the first couple of games in the match when the whole match hasn’t played itself out yet? And her being as a good a competitor, tennis player and probably the best and hardest ball-striker out there, that’s something she needs to sit with herself and be like, ‘Okay, what do I need?’.”
Despite the not-so-positive outlook for Sabalenka right now, particularly as she could be overtaken by world No 3 Mirra Andreeva in the rankings, Puig thinks she can get through this difficult period.
The former world No 27 added, “Do I think she’s going to come back from this? 1000%. I think she’s great for tennis, she’s very authentic, which I appreciate. She likes to put her life out there, which I think is great. I love her competitive nature, she just needs to kind of reset.”
