By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, August 13, 2026
Photo credit: Oakberry
August is time to rise for Aryna Sabalenka.
Fighting to fend off No. 2 Elena Rybakina and retain her world No. 1 ranking, Sabalenka will launch her quest for a third consecutive US Open championship this month.
Now, Sabalenka is sharing her feelings on her triumphs, tragedies and top players potentially boycott.
Sabalenka graces the cover of Time Magazine.
The Sabalenka issue bearing the coverline “Tour de Force” will debut on Friday, August 28th, which is two days before the August 30th start of US Open main-draw action.
Speaking to Time, Sabalenka reiterated her stance that top players may well boycott a Grand Slam event if their requests for a greater share of Grand Slam revenues are not met.
“I think at some point we will boycott [Slams],” if players’ request for a greater share of Grand Slam revenues aren’t met,” Sabalenka said prior to the start of Roland Garros. “Definitely when you see the number and you see the amount the players receiving… I feel like the show is on us.
“I feel like without us there wouldn’t be a tournament and there wouldn’t be that entertainment. I feel like definitely we deserve to be paid more percentage.
“What can I say? I just really hope that all of the negotiation that we are having, we at some point are going to get to the right decision, to the conclusion that everyone will be happy with.”
Sabalenka told Time while a major boycott is a last resort, “we will definitely do that” if the imbroglio is not settled.
“I hope it’ll never get to that point,” Sabalenka told Time. “But I feel like all of the players are on the same page. If one day we have to boycott the tournament, we will definitely do that.”
Among the highlights from Sabalenka’s interview with Time Magazine’s Sean Gregory are:
On how she wants to be remembered: “I want to be remembered as a fighter on court, but so cool and fun off court … I think it’s really important for kids to understand that you have to balance. You don’t have to befully, fully focused on your dreams. One day they can destroy you.”
On the lesson she learned after the backlash to her press conference following her loss to Coco Gauff in the French Open: “Just shut up and wait a little bit longer before you go to the press-conference room… Speak with your team before you actually decide to say something. Every time I lose a big match, there’s a room full of people waiting for the moment. No. Not gonna happen.”
On how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from Belarusian soil in February 2022 caused rupture between Russian and Belarusian players and their Ukrainian counterparts: “Some of the Ukrainian coaches, they would say really, really, really mean stuff to me … I don’t want to repeat it. It was so terrible. So it got to my head, and I would be hysterically crying.”
On navigating the loss of her ex-boyfriend, former NHL player Konstantin Koltsov, of apparent suicide while preparing for the Miami Open: “Tennis really saved me from depression … I was just trying to focus on training,just so I spend less time with myself in my thoughts. I would cry in practice a lot. It was a very tough moment in my life.”
On the relationship with her father who died unexpectedly of meningitis at 43: “We just started to get closer, like friends…He was easy to talk to. He would be the person that would really help me to get back on track whenever things wouldn’t work well.”
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