Aryna Sabalenka hasn't played brilliant tennis in North America so far, but she underlined having a short memory and forgetting about it as keys to improving.
It's been an interesting few weeks for the Belarusian player in North America. Before coming to the United States, Sabalenka last played at the Berlin Open, where she injured her shoulder.
Even though she traveled to London, she missed Wimbledon because of that injury. There was hope that she could play, but at the last moment, she withdrew from the tournament because she wasn't ready to compete.
The Olympic Games came in handy for Sabalenka, who announced even before the injury that she wouldn't play at the Olympics in Paris. It allowed her to recover a bit before returning at the 2024 Citi Open in Washington.
That WTA 500 event was an interesting experience for her because she won a couple of matches there before losing in the semi-final. Sabalenka didn't play her best tennis at the event and admitted to feeling some soreness in her shoulder, which created some concern.
She then played at the Canadian Open in Toronto but didn't do that well, losing to Amanda Anisimova quite early in the event. The good news was that Sabalenka declared her shoulder healed before that event.
She's now in Cincinnati, hoping to improve upon her previous performances. There isn't much time to fix her game before the US Open, which begins in two weeks. She's defending the final, which means a lot of points, and since it's a Grand Slam tournament, she naturally wants to win it.
For the Belarusian player, the way to fix her level is to forget about these performances. Speaking ahead of the tournament, Sabalenka said it was very good to have a short memory in tennis.
"Every week is a new tournament. It's good to have a short memory. That helps to keep things moving and working hard and improving."
Tennis is a quick sport, as there is no time to rest for players. They can't dwell on whether they play poorly or well, as the new week brings new challenges, so having a short memory is beneficial regardless.
She did admit that every loss for her is extra motivation, and she suffered two of those in two weeks, so she must be beaming with motivation.
"Every loss is extra motivation to work hard and improve things -- just to keep going. If you're fighting every point and giving all you have in practice and matches you'll have your opportunities. You just have to use them."
Whatever happens in Cincinnati essentially won't matter that much to the World No. 3 player, even though she will certainly want to win the WTA 1000 tournament, but the US Open is likely the tournament she's focusing on.
If she does well at the US Open, then none of these losses leading up to the major will matter too much. Obviously, if she performs poorly in Cincinnati, there will be some chatter about her tennis, but in the end, the US Open is what matters to her and everyone else in the field.
Everything she does in the weeks leading up to that will be analyzed through what she does in New York.
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