A former WTA world No. 1 and three-time Grand Slam singles finalist has revealed that Aryna Sabalenka and Mirra Andreeva were interested in hiring her as a coach.
Sabalenka began working with Anton Dubrov in 2020. Their stint together has been extremely successful, and the Belarusian became more consistent before reaching the very top of the women's game.
After losing in three Grand Slam semifinals, Sabalenka won the 2023 Australian Open to secure a maiden Grand Slam title. Her three-set final against Elena Rybakina was among the best women's singles finals ever.
Although Sabalenka enjoyed much success in 2023, she lost the US Open final to Coco Gauff and agonizingly missed out on the year-end No. 1 ranking after Iga Swiatek overtook her by winning the 2023 WTA Finals.
However, the 26-year-old used that pain as motivation and responded with a sublime 2024. She retained her Australian Open title and secured a maiden US Open crown, beating Jessica Pegula in a high-quality final.
Sabalenka also won the Cincinnati Open and Wuhan Open to overtake Swiatek at No. 1. Unlike last year, she finished the season at No. 1, confirmed after the eventual champion Coco Gauff defeated Swiatek at the WTA Finals.
One factor that helped Sabalenka achieve the year-end No. 1 ranking was Swiatek missing the Asian swing. Fans only discovered on Thursday that she missed that part of the season due to failing a doping test.
Dubrov and Sabalenka's partnership has undoubtedly worked well. Interestingly, it probably would never have happened if the two-time Australian Open champion's attempts to hire Dinara Safina had been successful.
The two-time French Open runner-up told Championat that Sabalenka tried to appoint her before the 2019 US Open, but she could not commit to working with the Belarusian immediately to prepare for the year's final Grand Slam.
"No, about full-fledged cooperation. We talked about Aryna in 2019, right before the US Open. She had just finished working with Dmitry Tursunov. And her agent called me and said that there was such an option, but she had to fly out immediately and start preparing for the US Open."
"I said that I couldn’t do that. But I understand Aryna, because I behaved the same way when I was a player. I also said: 'I need a coach tomorrow!'"
Sabalenka is not the only high-profile player who wanted to work with Safina. Teenage prodigy Mirra Andreeva also made an offer, but the former world No. 1 could not commit to traveling regularly with her throughout the season.
"They were looking for a coach for Mirra. Her agent called many specialists, asked if there was a desire, and then they offered ready-made coaches to Andreeva for her to choose. They called me too, I said that it sounded great, but I was not ready to skate with Mirra all over the world (smiles)."
"Of course, it would have been an interesting option, but in the end, Conchita [Martinez] works with her ― she’s great. She’s the coach who helps Mirra a lot."
0 Comments