Aryna Sabalenka is playing for a place in the Roland-Garros final this Thursday, June 8.
Tuesday, June 6, Aryna Sabalenka won against the Ukrainian Svitolina. At the end of the match, unsurprisingly, Gael Monfils’ wife did not want to shake the player’s hand when the latter came to the net. Elina Svitolina, very surprised, explained that the Belarusian had certainly done this to make things worse. For Sabalenka, none of that, a simple reflex according to her.
Aryna Sabalenka who is Belarusian, was rather evasive on the subject of the conflict in Ukraine. Requested since the beginning of the fortnight concerning the current conflict, the world number 2 had decided to oust and ignore the press conferences. A journalist had challenged him a few days ago: “In 2020, you signed a letter to support Lukashenko when he was torturing and beating protesters in the street. Then you celebrated the New Year with him. How can a potential world number one support a dictator?” Aryna Sabalenka brushed off the question, saying she “didn’t have any comments to make.”
After the meeting with Svitolina, the world number 2 spoke a little more about the subject. “I don’t support war. And I don’t want sport to be politicized. I’m just a 25-year-old tennis player. If I wanted to be in politics, I wouldn’t be here.” Asked about her link with the president, the Belarusian also made things clear. “We played a lot of Fed Cup games and he was at our games, she replied. He was taking pictures with us after the games. Nothing bad was happening at that moment. I don’t support the war , which means I’m not supporting Lukashenko, right now.”
Biographical sheet. Aryna Sabalenka was born on May 5, 1998 in Minsk. His father Sergey was an ice hockey coach. But he had encouraged his daughter to hold a racket in her hands when she was 6 years old. He sadly passed away in 2019 at the age of 43. His mother is still alive and is called Yulia. Aryna Sabalenka progressed very quickly with the little yellow ball. She was trained by Dmitry Tursunov and Didi Kindlmann. Today, she collaborates with her compatriot Anton Dubrov. The player is nicknamed “The Tiger” due to her tattoo of the animal on the front of her left arm. Off the courts, she also reads books and her favorite novel is none other than The Count of Monte Cristo, authored by Alexandre Dumas.
Aryna Sabalenka is currently second in the world. The Belarusian reached this ranking after her victory at the Australian Open on January 30, 2023. In doubles, she has already been at the top of women’s tennis by occupying the world No. 399th in the world.
Aryna Sabalenka took on a whole new dimension by winning the Australian Open in 2023. She had never made it past the round of 16 in this tournament. At Wimbledon, she made the semi-finals in 2021. Similar to the US Open where she had reached the last four in 2021 and 2022. In WTA 1000, Premier Mandatory or Premier 5, she has 5 victories on the circuit with Wuhan in 2018 and 2019, Dubai in 2020 and Madrid in 2021 and 2023. She also made a WTA Finals final in 2022 in Fort Worth where she lost to Caroline Garcia.
Being born in Minsk, Aryna Sabalenka is of Belarusian nationality.
On the court, Aryna Sabalenka uses her size as an asset. She takes advantage of her 1.82m to have an efficient serve and in the game, she plays with power.
Konstantin Koltsov is the boyfriend of the world number 2. He was a top athlete in ice hockey. He notably represented the Belarusian national team.
Before Roland-Garros 2023, Aryna Sabalenka celebrated her 25th birthday. She was born at the beginning of the month (the 5th).
