"Still tough but it's not my fault" - Sabalenka on Ukraine war impact on her career
WTA
Aryna Sabalenka admits that the ongoing Ukraine war has impacted her career but realizes she cannot do anything about it.
Russia launched an illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The war that has waged since shows no signs of stopping almost a year later, with Ukraine continuing to fiercely resist the attack on its sovereign territory.
The conflict in Ukraine impacted tennis. A notable example was Wimbledon's hugely controversial decision to suspend Russian and Belarusian(Belarus' government supports Russia in the war) from playing at last year's tournament in London.
That led to the ATP and WTA Tours suspending all ranking points from Wimbledon out of fairness to the players who could not compete at the grass-court Grand Slam. Some bitterness about that whole saga remains months later.
Sabalenka, a Belarusian player, was among those who could not compete at Wimbledon. She reached the semifinal at SW19 in 2021 and possesses an ideal playing style for grass to flourish at the prestigious tournament.
The former world No. 2 is currently competing at the Australian Open. She reached the quarterfinal after beating Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic. Afterward, the three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist spoke about how struggling with serve in 2022 is helping her now.
Despite how well she is playing in Melbourne, Sabalenka does not hide the fact that what happened at Wimbledon and the Ukraine war as a whole has impacted her career. However, the WTA Finals runner-up knows she has zero control over that situation.
"Well, I would say that of course it affect me a lot. There was tough and it's still tough. But I just understand that it's not my fault. Like, I have zero control. If I could do something, of course I would do it, but I cannot do anything. Just have this understanding really helping me to stay strong."
