Sabalenka, Smashed her Racket at Last Year\s US Open
Sabalenka, Who Smashed her Racket at Last Year"s US Open, Dances with the Trophy this Year
“I desperately wanted to win a major, and I will continue to challenge in the future.
I am grateful to my late father.”
Arina Sabalenka (2nd place, Belarus) is a player famous for her passion for winning.
After finishing second in the women"s singles at her US Open tennis tournament last September, he entered her locker room and took out his anger on her own tennis racket.
Sabalenka, who lost 1-2 (6-4 3-6 4-6) to Coco Goff (4th place, USA) in the final, returned to the locker room after the award ceremony and quietly took out a racket and slammed it on the floor.
I threw it away in the trash can.
Although this video was not broadcast on TV, it was released on social media through some channel and became a good example of Sabalenka"s desire to win.
At the next major tournament, this year"s Australian Open, he danced happily while holding the championship trophy in his arms.
Sabalenka, who defeated Zheng Qinwen (15th place, China) 2-0 (6-3 6-2) in just 1 hour and 16 minutes in the singles final held in Melbourne, Australia on the 27th, won the trophy after the awards ceremony.
Another video was released of the group holding and dancing happily to the locker room.
In the post-win interview, Sabalenka did not hide her desire to continue winning major championships in the future.
Sabalenka, who won the Australian Open for the second time in a row since last year, said, "Actually, in the past, I couldn"t understand it when I saw a player who had won a major championship crying after reaching the top again.
But today I won another major tournament."
“After trying it, I understood the players’ feelings,” he said.
He said, "I also had the experience of winning the Australian Open last year, so I thought this year would be different, but I still desperately want to win, and I have to prepare for it and do my best."
“I think the feelings about winning are the same,” he explained.
At the same time, I promised myself that I would like to consistently achieve good results in major competitions.
Arina Sabalenka said, “I will not become a player who wins a major tournament once and then disappears,” and said, “It is an important task for me to win more majors in the future.”
He had a tiger tattoo on his arm, and although his unique power was his strength, he had the disadvantage of having a lot of ups and downs, such as double faults when he started to falter at difficult times.
Sabalenka said, “Compared to the past, I have improved a lot in that aspect,” and reflected, “I gained a lot of experience while competing in major tournaments, and in particular, losing in the US Open final last year was a good lesson for me.”
He did not record a single double fault in the final that day, and played a one-sided game that did not allow his opponent to break, achieving a lossless set win.
Sabalenka did not forget to express her gratitude to her father, who passed away in 2019.
His father, Sergei, a former ice hockey player, died suddenly in his early 40s in 2019.
It was his father who gave Sabalenka his first tennis racket when he was 6 years old, and his father"s usual wish was to become world number one and win a major tournament.
Sabalenka granted his father"s wish last year by winning the Australian Open and becoming world No. 1, but at the time of his father"s death, he was ranked in the top 10 in the world and his best result in a major tournament was the round of 16.
In an on-court interview immediately after winning, Sabalenka used humor by saying, "I"ll have to say hello to my family too.
But I don"t know if they"ll understand if I do it in English."
At a later press conference, she said, "Especially if it wasn"t for my father, who passed away four years ago, I wouldn"t have been able to do it today."
“I wouldn’t have been there,” he confessed.
Sabalenka, who was born in May 1998 and is 25 years old, said, “My father wanted me to win at least two major championships by the age of 25,” and added, “I am also grateful for the dedication and help of my family, including my mother, younger brother, and grandmother.” He said.