Aryna Sabalenka continued to cut a swathe through the Australian Open draw with a sometimes brutal demolition of Barbora Krejcikova on Tuesday but only after she had signed her name on the bald head of her fitness trainer.
The Belarusian would be the first to admit that she sometimes marches to a different drummer and her new pre-match ritual, now repeated five times at Melbourne Park this year, is not too popular with performance coach Jason Stacy.
“Somehow I decided to start drawing my signature on his head,” Sabalenka explained after her fourth-round win over Amanda Anisimova.
READ | Sabalenka demolishes Krejcikova, sets up Gauff semifinal
“I did it before the first match. Now it’s a routine. Every time, he’s not super happy that I’m going to do it.
“He’s like, ‘Okay, anything for the win’. I’m like, ‘Thank you’.”
The next time Sabalenka signs Joyce’s head will be on Thursday when she puts her Grand Slam title on the line in a blockbuster semifinal against fourth seed Coco Gauff.
Sabalenka lost her second Grand Slam title-decider to the American teenager at the US Open last September and said she could not wait to test herself against Gauff again.
“I love it. I love it,” she said after her quarterfinal win on Tuesday.
“After US Open, I really wanted that revenge, and that’s a great match. It’s always great battles against Coco, with really great fights.”
Sabalenka won the first set of the US Open final quite comfortably and admitted at the time that she got “too emotional” as she tried to stop Gauff fighting her way back into the contest.
That was a reminder of the days only a few years ago when Sabalenka’s emotional fragility stopped her from making the most of her undoubted talent at the majors.
The 26-year-old said she had worked with psychologists for several years but ultimately the fix had come when she took responsibility for her own actions.
“I’m not getting crazy on court, I’m not rushing things,” said Sabalenka, who has now reached the semi-finals at the last six Grand Slams.
“I’m just playing point by point, and that’s it, and fighting for every point without overthinking about my dreams, about what I want to do, about how many slams I want to win and all that stuff.
“I was able to separate myself from that kind of mentality and just start focusing on myself and focusing on things I can improve and I can get better in, and what I actually have to do to win every match I play.”
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