“I don’t believe there was no pressure on her” – Aryna Sabalenka REJECTS the notion of Mirra Andreeva not feeling any pressure due to her ‘young’ age
Aryna Sabalenka feels that a young player like Mirra Andreeva are also not insulated from feeling the pressure to succeed
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Image Credit: Left Tennis.com, Right WTA
Aryna Sabalenka in a candid interview admitted that even rising tennis players like Mirra Andreeva can feel the pressure of winning on the big stage. Aryna Sabalenka defeated the 16-year-old Russian in easy straight sets 6-3,6-1 in the round of 16 at the Madrid Open. Mirra Andreeva had a great run in the tournament up until she met her fall in the Belarusian. She defeated top-ranked players like Magda Linette, Beatriz Haddad Maia and also Leylah Fernandez.
In the post-match interview with the Tennis Channel, interviewer Prakash Amritraj asked Sabalenka about the kind of pressure she felt going into this match as the young Mirra Andreeva was in great form in the Madrid Open 2023. He also hinted that the young Russian would have played the match with zero pressure as she had nothing to lose. Aryna Sabalenka quickly corrected Amritraj saying “I don’t believe there was no pressure on her“. Aryna Sabalenka reminisced when she was younger with a no-care attitude but she still felt both the desire and pressure of winning in big tournaments. “I remember myself being 17 years old coming to this tournament & I was thinking I’m already a Grand Slam Champion. And that I am going to win all the tournament”
Aryna Sabalenka also said that in a match court, there is always some pressure which was also felt by the World no. 2. But focusing on her game helped her win the match. “There is always a pressure on the courts, but I am just trying to focus on my game to win matches.” Sabalenka will take on Mayar Sherif in the quarter finals, who is also having a great run in this tournament. Mayar defeated world no. 5 Carolina Garcia in the previous round and world no. 29 Elise Merten in the round of 16.
Aryna Sabalenka’s success as a teenager
Aryna Sabalenka broke into the WTA circuit in 2017. She played in several WTA events as a qualifier. But her first win came in Wimbledon against Irina Khromacheva in the first round. The Belarusian achieved great success in the Tashkent Open, where she reached the semi-finals. She then ranked 119 and reached the finals of the Tianjin Open, where she lost to her idol Maria Sharapova.
She played the Fed Cup final, where she lost a tough match against the United States. Her first WTA victory happened to be at the Mumbai Open, a WTA 125 event. This victory pushed her rank to world no. 76 at the young age of only 19 years.
Though she had only 4 months in 2018 as a teenager, she did some good to her tennis career in that much time. At the Indian Wells 2018, she reached the third round, upsetting then world no. 19 Svetlana Kuznetsova. In the 2018 Open Lugano, she reached the finals in both singles and doubles. But she suffered defeat against Elise Mertens in both formats. Though she was just a teenager Sabalenka proved her mettle at the WTA circuit early on.
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Deeksha Nigam
(173 Articles Published)