Aryna Sabalenka Pays Emotional Tribute to Late Father After Defending US Open Title

Aryna Sabalenka is now a two-time US Open champion. On Saturday (September 6), the Belarusian went past Amanda Anisimova in straight sets to defend her title, becoming the first woman since Serena Williams (2014) to defend the US Open crown.

At the press conference, the first seed paid a heartfelt tribute to her dad, Sergey Sabalenka. Her dad passed away in 2019.

It means a lot, and when he passed away, I was very depressed. It was a tough moment for me and my family. But in that moment, I decided to take it as a motivation to put our family name in the history. I know that he is, I want to believe, I feel his protection from up there. And I know that he became my power. So, it means a lot.

It was Sabalenka’s sixth meeting against Anisimova in Grand Slam events, and the win helped her tie the head-to-head record to 3-3. But the World No.1 still trails 4-6 in the overall head-to-head matchups.

For Sabalenka, it was her fourth win of the season after the Brisbane International, Miami Open, and Madrid Open. Earlier this year, Sabalenka was denied a three-peat at the Australian Open by Madison Keys, while at the French Open, Coco Gauff snatched the title from her.

At Wimbledon, Anisimova eliminated her in the semifinals. For Anisimova, it was her career’s second Grand Slam final defeat after Wimbledon, where she suffered a double-bagel humiliation against World No.2 Iga Swiatek.

Anisimova, who will reach her career-best No.4 ranking this Monday, has one title to her name so far this season. It’s the Qatar Open, which she claimed by defeating Jelena Ostapenko, before losing to Tatjana Maria in the final of the Queen’s Club Championships.

This year, in every Major, an American player featured in the final. Sabalenka has become the first non-American woman in the Open Era to win multiple US Open titles by defeating American players in the semifinals and final. She is also the third woman to win her first four Grand Slam titles on hard courts after Naomi Osaka and Kim Clijsters.

Aryna Sabalenka on why she stopped working with a psychologist

Aryna Sabalenka worked with a psychologist after a poor string of results almost forced her to quit tennis. But in 2022, she decided to take responsibility for her mental game, saying at the press conference after her US Open win that she was relying a lot on the psychologist and was making the same mistakes again and again.

She helped me a lot, but then at some point, I realized that I was relying on her so much. I thought that, ‘Okay, she has to fix me. She has to give me an answer, and so I wasn’t really taking the responsibility over my actions, and I was making the same mistake over and over again, and I was getting upset that it’s not helping. So at some point I decided, ‘Okay, I have to take the responsibility and I have to figure it by myself.‘

The next target for Sabalenka is to win the China Open, where last year, her run ended in the quarterfinals. But later, she was successful in clinching the Wuhan Open by defeating home favorite Qinwen Zheng, also winning her third title in the tournament.

Anisimova has never advanced to the quarterfinal of a tournament on the Asian swing. Last year, she lost in the fourth round of the China Open, while at the Wuhan Open, she suffered a second-round exit. The only WTA 1000 title she won was this year’s Qatar Open.

Also read: Jannik Sinner Recalls Titanic 2022 US Open Quarterfinal With Carlos Alcaraz Ahead of Their Blockbuster Final