Missing out on playing at Wimbledon last year may have been a blessing in disguise for Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka as the world number two said it was a chance to reset which has led to her reaching a fourth consecutive Grand Slam semifinal.
The 25-year-old did not play in last year’s tournament due to the ban on players from Russia and Belarus due to Moscow’s war in Ukraine - which it describes as a “special military operation” - with Belarus a key staging area.
As sad as it was for Sabalenka to miss out on a major she described as “really special” she said the break helped her relax and improve her game, resulting in winning the Australian Open in January for her first Grand Slam title.
“I was really sad that I couldn’t play here last year. But at the same time I was thinking that, okay, it’s a good time to kind of like reset and start everything over again,” the second seed told a press conference after her quarterfinal win over American Madison Keys on Wednesday.
“Before the grass season, I didn’t play my best tennis. I was struggling a lot with my serve, with these emotions, with a lot of stuff. I just took that time as a good preparation, as a good little switch. Everything started working better.
“So I think in those ... three or four weeks I did really good work and it helped me at the U.S. Open. Then I kind of started believing in myself more, I started playing better, I started feeling better on court, emotionally I started feeling better.
“I think this period gave me so much believe in myself ... I was very sad but at the same time I was like, okay, this is probably something I really needed.”
Sabalenka reached the U.S. Open semi-finals before going on to win in Melbourne. However, she fell at the last-four stage in the French Open last month, losing to Karolina Muchova.
This time, the Belarusian faces sixth seed Ons Jabeur, runner-up last year, for a place in the Wimbledon final and conceded that the Tunisian will be a difficult opponent as she seeks to become the first Arabic and African female champion.
“I feel like mentally she’s really strong. She’s making history. I think this is the biggest motivation for her. That’s why she’s really doing well this season, and especially here at Wimbledon,” Sabalenka said.
“I think her tricky game is really, really challenging to play against.”
If Sabalenka does reach the final she will end Pole Iga Swiatek’s 66-week reign as world number one
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