Aryna Sabalenka recently revealed her schedule during her injury hiatus, calling it a "tough" moment after missing Wimbledon.
Sabalenka was forced to withdraw from the grass-court major because of a shoulder injury, although that decision was made at the 11th hour when she experienced intense pain during her last practice session on the day she was slated to play her first-round match at SW19.
The Belarusian forfeited her spot in the main draw and her opportunity to reclaim the World No. 2 ranking from Coco Gauff at the time. Watching Wimbledon from the sidelines was not what Sabalenka had envisaged after a terrific start to the season in Australia, where she won her second Grand Slam.
Over the last two years (from the 2022 US Open), she developed into a big-match player, reaching at least the semifinal or better in each Grand Slam until Mirra Andreeva snapped that streak in this year's Roland Garros quarterfinals.
But Sabalenka, who is back competing in the North American hard-court swing after recovering from injury, spoke to Tennis Channel following her commanding opening win over Elisabetta Cocciaretto at the Cincinnati Open to provide a fresh update about her health.
The 26-year-old explained that she regularly spent half of her day rehabbing from a shoulder injury, which is normally troublesome to tennis players who rely heavily on their muscle strength and shot stability.
Sabalenka maintained a very active presence on social media, sharing photos of her vacation in Europe with her boyfriend, but she denied that she was "living the best life" largely because she was missing one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments on the calendar.
"I wouldn't say so, honestly (living the best life). Like it was really tough being injured and not being able to compete at Wimbledon. I was so ready to go, but unfortunately, it is what it is."
"And yeah, I did a lot of rehabs and even though it looks like I had vacation life like almost half of the day, I was doing treatments, and rehab, exercising like a lot of stuff to make sure that this will never happen again."
When asked whether the injury might have been a blessing in disguise, as tennis players rarely get time to unwind and reset mid-season because of the hectic schedule of traveling to multiple continents, Sabalenka agreed. She took time to recharge after playing almost 40 matches in the first half of 2024.
"But yeah I had a couple of days where I just really enjoy myself and just try to separate myself from tennis and just kind of like accept that I'm injured and I cannot compete you know like and just try to take everything out of that situation. So yeah, it was kind of like a lot of rehab stuff, and at the same time, I was able to kind of like enjoy my life."
Sabalenka has allayed fears that the shoulder injury has resurfaced after complaining of soreness in Washington in her comeback tournament. She looked in good form in her first match in Cincinnati and will get a stern test on Friday when she faces Elina Svitolina.
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