Aryna Sabalenka Reveals What She Would ‘Never Wish’ on Her Enemy

Aryna Sabalenka‘s serve problems in 2022 greatly affected her, so much so that she even contemplated hanging up her racket. Then she hired biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan, and he helped her fix the problems.

At present, many top players are competing at the Stuttgart Open, but Sabalenka chose not to play. Even if World No.2 Elena Rybakina, who doesn’t have any points to defend, wins the tournament, it still won’t be enough to dethrone the Belarusian from the No.1 ranking. Instead of competing this week, she sat for an interview with Esquire during which, among other things, she talked about her serving woes.

I would never wish it to my enemy. It was tough because imagine you’re doing something for your whole life, and you’re really trying to be great, and you love the sport, and then at some point, just like that, you cannot serve. And then you struggle, you struggle, and you get to the point of just giving up. Mentally, that’s tough. That was a tough period, but it made me so strong, like never before.

Sabalenka finished the 2022 season with 428 double faults, the most on the tour at that time. In 2021, she also topped the list with 338 double faults.

Nowadays, I’m confident that even if my serve is not going well, I can still fight and still try to win the match without my serve.

Aryna Sabalenka added

Last year, she served just 165 double faults and was in 38th position on the double fault table. Her double fault tally is 37 this year, and it’s Gauff who has been topping the list since the 2024 season. To end her serving woes, the American ace has also hired MacMillan.

Aryna Sabalenka on her practice session with Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner

Aryna Sabalenka has trained with several ATP players, including Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner. Last year, during Wimbledon, he had practice sessions with the two aforementioned players as well as Carlos Alcaraz. During her interview with Esquire, Sabalenka talked about her experience of training alongside the top ATP players.

That was fun, and I love doing this because the intensity is different. You know, you play against them, and you automatically start copying their moves, which is great. They do a lot of great things that I have to learn from them. The intensity of the practice was really high, like physically in that moment, even though I would hit for a little bit. With Novak, we actually did two full practices, like two hours and three hours, another one, so it was a great experience and good for me, you know, I got really strong physically.

Like Sabalenka, even Sinner and Djokovic are not competing this week. Djokovic, in fact, hasn’t played a match since his defeat to Jack Draper in Indian Wells. Djokovic reached this year’s Australian Open final after knocking out Sinner in the semifinals, but lost the final to Alcaraz.

Sinner, like Sabalenka, completed the Sunshine Double and skipped the ongoing Barcelona Open. He may end up skipping the Madrid Open, where he has no points to defend, but this decision could see him lose his ranking points to Alcaraz. Sinner will lose his No.1 ranking if Alcaraz clinches the Barcelona Open.

The 24-year-old reclaimed his No.1 ranking after defeating the seven-time Grand Slam champion in the final of the Monte-Carlo Masters, which was also their first meeting in a tournament this year. Sinner, who also beat his arch-rival in last year’s ATP Finals, now holds a 7-10 head-to-head record over Alcaraz. At the Barcelona Open, the home favorite eliminated Otto Virtanen to schedule his round of 16 clash with Tomas Machac.

Also read: Arthur Fils Discusses Experience of Working With Goran Ivanisevic so far: “He has Tons of Advice”

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