Aryna Sabalenka Reveals She Sought Help from Psychologist After Roland Garros Heartbreak: “I’m Trying to Dig Deep in My Brain”

Aryna Sabalenka is in Berlin for the WTA 500 tournament on grass. She will be starting her campaign against Ekaterina Alexandrova, which will also be her first match since her defeat to Diana Shnaider at the French Open.

Sabalenka, who lost to Coco Gauff in last year’s French Open final, this time exited in the quarterfinals. And she was devastated, so much so that her initial reaction to the heartbreaking exit was to stop playing tennis and smash everything to release her frustrations.

During the media day in Berlin, journalist Ben Rothenberg asked Sabalenka about her French Open defeat. She revealed that she sought help from her psychologist to understand what really happens to her during these tough defeats.

I called my psychologist that I used to work with. It just felt like I needed to talk through everything I’ve been going through in the last…I don’t know how many years. It was really helpful. I kind of changed a lot of things, and I’m trying a lot of new things right now. I feel like I need to figure out what’s happening, sometimes, in those matches to [be able to] move on and to avoid these situations happening.

It was the third time since her Miami Open triumph that Sabalenka failed to reach the semifinal of a tournament. She lost to Hailey Baptiste in the Madrid Open quarterfinals, to Sorana Cirstea in the third round of the Italian Open, and to Shnaider in Paris.

I’ve tried to dig deeper in my thoughts to find what’s actually happening in those matches. I was going through all of the matches that I felt like…not like I should have won, but [where] I felt I had more opportunities, and I missed them. So I’m just trying to kind of dig deep in my brain—which is probably not a good idea. But let’s see where it’s going to lead me.

Aryna Sabalenka added

But before the clay swing, Sabalenka played four finals. She started the season by defending her Brisbane International crown by defeating Marta Kostyuk and later, lost the Australian Open final to Elena Rybakina. She took her revenge on the Kazakh ace by beating her in the Indian Wells final and completed the Sunshine Double by beating Coco Gauff in Miami.

Brad Gilbert sends ranking warning to Aryna Sabalenka after Mirra Andreeva’s French Open win

Aryna Sabalenka‘s spot on the rankings table is in danger because after her French Open defeat, she sits at the top with 9,090, while second-ranked Elena Rybakina has 8,143 points. Coco Gauff’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, has backed French Open champion Mirra Andreeva to dethrone the Belarusian ace from the top.

I think her serve has improved a lot and she’s starting to flatten out the forehand, so would not be surprised if she had a deep run here. I might even say she has a really good shot to be in the top three to four favorites for the [US] Open. But I’m going to make a bold prediction: I think she finishes 2026 number one in the world.

Brad Gilbert said on The Big T Podcast

Andreeva is back at her career-best No.5 spot with 5,751 points. In the French Open final, she breezed past Poland’s Maja Chwalinska, also a fellow first-time Grand Slam finalist.

The 19-year-old, the third youngest woman in this century to win a Grand Slam singles title, as well as the first Russian woman since Maria Sharapova (2014 French Open) to win a Major, has never played a final on grass. She will be competing at the Bad Homburg Open to start her campaign on the grass swing.

Also read: Grigor Dimitrov Recalls Terrifying Injury He Suffered During Jannik Sinner Wimbledon Clash: “I Thought I had a Heart Problem”