NEW YORK — While Iga Swiatek was winning her first Wimbledon title, Aryna Sabalenka was 2,500 miles away on the beach in Mykonos, Greece.
Despite the idyllic scenery, it wasn’t exactly where Sabalenka wanted to be. Two days prior, she had also been playing on Centre Court looking to make her first final at the storied major. But after she lost in a three-set heartbreaker to eventual runner-up Amanda Anisimova, the world No. 1 knew she needed a break, far away from London — or anywhere with a tennis court.
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While her season — which included reaching the finals at the Australian Open and the French Open, as well as 1000-level titles at Miami and Madrid — would be deemed a massive success for almost anyone else on tour, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed by coming up short yet again at a Slam.
The 27-year-old Sabalenka knew the “beautiful beach, the beautiful water and great food” of the Greek island was exactly what could refuel her. She spent seven days swimming, reading, lounging and, in her words, “doing nothing.” The rare downtime during the grueling, globe-trotting season allowed her to process everything that had happened throughout the year.
“It really gave me time to think about my approach for the big matches, the mentality I have, the mentality I need, and how it’s different than the matches before, and what needs to stay the same,” Sabalenka told ESPN at the Cincinnati Open earlier this month. “I realize I need to respect my opponent a little bit more, really fight for every point, but also I have to respect myself more too.
“Sometimes I think I completely forget about who I am and what I went through and that I’m really strong enough to handle literally anything.”
Now playing in her second tournament following her vacation and short break from the sport, Sabalenka is back in New York looking to defend her 2024 US Open title and end her major season back on top. On Wednesday, she defeated Polina Kudermetova, 7-6 (4), 6-2, during a nervy night session on Arthur Ashe Stadium to advance to the third round.
With five matches that will only get more competitive between her and a coveted fourth Slam trophy, Sabalenka will be relying on her reinvigorated mentality and those newly learned lessons more than ever.
Sabalenka won the 2024 US Open — as well as the Australian Open titles in 2023 and 2024. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
SABALENKA HAS BEEN through far more than her 27 years suggest.
There was the sudden loss of her father in 2019, and the devasting suicide of her former partner Konstantin Koltsov ahead of the Miami Open in 2024. On the court she famously suffered with the yips on serve in 2022 and it became so severe and so debilitating she considered quitting the sport altogether. In 2023, she faced intense scrutiny for her relationship with Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko and her native country’s role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In June, she was widely criticized for her demeanor and comments in defeat after losing the French Open final to Coco Gauff. Not to mention, there have been countless injuries and occasional struggles with staying motivated on tour.
None of it has been easy. But Sabalenka believes these challenges have made her resilient. So a tough point during a match? A literal game? That should be nothing.
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But during the most crucial moments in the biggest matches this year — such as against Madison Keys in the Australian Open or Gauff in the French Open final — Sabalenka was simply unable to do that. Instead of tapping into self-belief and confidence, she found herself crumbling under the pressure. She would second-guess her decisions and stop herself from going for her shots.
After losing to Keys in Melbourne, ending her bid for a rare three-peat at the event, she smashed her racket in anger as the fans in the stadium looked on.
“I just completely forget about what I went through and my strength, and instead the doubts and all of the negativity creep in,” Sabalenka said. “And it’s because I just don’t really respect myself enough.”
That frustration, coupled with an exhaustion that only increased with every tournament during the relentless European clay and grass-court seasons, made it clear to Sabalenka that something had to change ahead of her defense mission in New York. There would be no tennis in Mykonos, nor working out. She wanted to let herself miss it and get back in touch with who she was outside of being a professional athlete. She knew it was the only way she had a chance to win the US Open title.
As she was lying on a sun bed about six days into the trip, she still didn’t miss it per se, but she did feel increasingly guilty about her lack of exercise. Not wanting to totally disrupt her vacation vibes, she immediately got up and walked to the hotel’s gym right behind her.
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“I didn’t even want to go and get my sneakers, so I was just in my bikini and my flip flops,” Sabalenka said. “I didn’t want to do the bike, I didn’t want to run so I just did a 30-minute walk with an incline on the treadmill. I felt great and tired, and I was like, now I can go back and eat and enjoy guilt-free.”
While she didn’t work out again during the trip, she did post on social media. But that didn’t feel like a chore or obligation. In recent years, Sabalenka has found joy in content creation. Often joined by members of her team — who have become recognizable social media figures in their own right — Sabalenka frequently participates in various dance and other trends on TikTok, and shares photos and snippets of her life on Instagram. While known for her aggressive, powerful game style and intimidating grunts on the court, she has enjoyed having a chance to show fans who she really is.
The experience and feedback had been so positive, she started her own behind-the-scenes YouTube series this summer to go even more in depth. Called “Aryna’s Arena,” the seventh episode, focusing on her pre-US Open activities, was posted this week. After her comments following the final at the French Open were, according to her, misunderstood, Sabalenka believes the channel has allowed fans to know her better as a person.
“I love sharing myself,” she said. “I love just throwing myself out there and making sure that next time when people go to the court supporting me, they know that ‘Okay, she’s crazy right now, she’s focused, she’s yelling, screaming, but we know the other side of Aryna.’ So I just want to feel a bit more connected with people.”
It’s also allowed her to turn her energy to something away from tennis. Sabalenka is involved in much of the production, from coming up with the ideas for episodes to trying to determine the ideal length for each one. While her first six episodes were all in the five-minute range, the latest one is slightly longer — something she had been pushing to do since the start. The series has over one million total views at the time of this writing.
On Wednesday night, Sabalenka extended her streak to 17 consecutive tiebreaks won, the longest women’s streak in the Open Era. But it was a nervy first set overall. Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images
DURING HER EARLIER years on tour, it would take Sabalenka awhile to regain her form on the tennis court after a break. She would want everything to be perfect as soon as she returned and would be upset that it wasn’t. But that’s not the case anymore. Now she embraces the initial uncomfortableness.
“Nowadays I just take it easy, I’m not rushing things,” Sabalenka said. “We’re not going crazy on intensity. We’re just slowly trying to remind my body, ‘Okay, this is what you actually do for a living.’ And with this mindset, one, two hits and you feel the rhythm of the movement, the feeling of the ball, back.”
Sabalenka opted to skip the Canadian Open, which started at the end of July, and cited fatigue in her formal announcement, explaining the decision would give her “the best chance for success this season.” While her peers were in Montreal, Sabalenka was training in Miami, her home base, with her team.
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The extra time allowed her to truly ease back in, and mentally and physically prepare for New York. She returned in Cincinnati, also as the defending champion, and was eager to get back on court. She won her first three matches, including a three-set thriller against 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu, but ultimately lost to former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, 6-1, 6-4, in the quarterfinals. While Rybakina was powered by a particularly dominant serving outing, Sabalenka never seemed to find any momentum in the match and hardly looked like the untouchable force she had been at previous parts of the season and in 2024.
That performance, combined with her results throughout the season, haven’t exactly garnered confidence about her chances to hoist the trophy next week.
“She’s been consistent [and] she’s gotten to the end of these big tournaments, but the nerves have got in the way,” said former world No. 4 and current ESPN analyst Mary Joe Fernandez ahead of the US Open. “I just feel the last few weeks, she’s struggling a bit. I feel like her backhand that’s usually a strength is letting her down a lot. We’ll see if mentally she puts it together.”
Of course, things can change quickly in tennis. And Sabalenka is more capable than most of turning things around quickly.
“If she plays well, obviously look out,” Fernandez added. “She can take the racket out of anybody’s hand.”
Through her first two matches, Sabalenka has, at times, appeared as formidable a foe as anyone in the draw. While her match against Kudermetova was far from her best, and she was broken in the opening game and needed a tiebreak to clinch the first set, she still found a way to win. Even when she was clearly frustrated at various moments. She later said she reminded herself that “every point can be a key moment of the set” and that realization motivated her to continue to play aggressively and remain mentally strong.
She left little doubt about who the better player was in the second set. Sabalenka currently has the second-best odds of winning the tournament, behind only Swiatek, according to ESPN Bet.
She will next take on 2021 US Open runner-up and No. 31 seed Leylah Fernandez on Friday in the third round in a rematch of their semifinal match four years ago. A resurgent Rybakina or a red-hot Raducanu could potentially await, and be her first true test, in the quarterfinals.
Sabalenka has made it clear just how badly she wants to win again at the US Open. She’s repeatedly called it her favorite tournament and it’s been her singular goal for the past several months. Hearing herself introduced to the crowd as the reigning champion, and the subsequent reception from the crowd, has only made her want it more.
But nothing in tennis is guaranteed, no matter how much someone wants it. Sabalenka knows she might walk away empty-handed, yet again, and end her year without a Slam title. And for someone who’s been through as much as she has, that would be okay too.
For now, anyway.
“Of course ideally I would love to finish the season with a Grand Slam and [the year-end] world No. 1,” Sabalenka said before the tournament began. “But I think if this goal is not achieved, I’ll still think that this season [has] been really amazing for me. All of those tough lessons that I learned this season [are] only going to make me stronger for the next one.
“I’ll work even harder in the preseason to make sure next year [is] going to be only [a] year [full] of success, like truly success.”
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