Aryna Sabalenka had a very close relationship with her father, and she credits him for a lot of success in her tennis career.
The Belarusian tennis player, like many people around the world, saw her father as a role model. He led her on her tennis journey, but unfortunately, Sergey Sabalenka passed away way too young.
It was a massive blow for Aryna, who certainly took some time to deal with that, but she realized she could use it also as a motivation. She wanted to make her father proud and she wanted to fulfil all the promises given to him.
In 2023, the Belarusian player revealed that she wanted to win her second Grand Slam title for her father, as they had agreed that she would win two before turning 25.
She managed to win one at 24, and at 25, she added another to her collection. In her tennis career, Sabalenka also became the World No. 1 player on the WTA Tour, something that her father also envisioned her doing.
Her career has been just tied to her father, and so is every single win of her tennis career. There is plenty that the 26-year-old has from her father, most notably, according to her, her personality, as she revealed ahead of the 2024 US Open.
"I mean, I think my personality came from my father. I wish he would be still alive. I think we would have so much fun together right now."
Another thing that the three-time major champion has from her father is her name, and that brings her great motivation. Every time she wins a Grand Slam trophy, it means that not only her, but also her father's surname gets engraved onto it, something she cherishes a lot.
"After I lost my father, it's always been my goal to put our family name in the history of tennis. And every time I see my name on that trophy, I'm so proud of myself, I'm proud of my family that they never gave up on my dream."
"And that they were doing everything they could to keep me going. And so I had this opportunity in life. So it really means a lot."
Sabalenka won two Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open, but this year, she has extended her collection also beyond Australia.
Beating Jessica Pegula in the 2024 US Open final was a great achievement for her and another dream come true.
"And yeah, that's just, it's just always been my dream, and I still kind of cannot believe that I was able to achieve, like, me with my team, were able to achieve so much already."
While she has achieved a lot already, Sabalenka's hard-court dominance in recent years certainly proves that she can achieve even more. In the past two years, she managed to win three of the four hard-court majors played and had a 1-0 lead in that only major that she didn't win.
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