By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Wednesday, August 21, 2024
Aryna Sabalenka opens up for the first time in a new interview about the mental health challenges she faced after the death of her former partner in March.
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The 26-year-old Sabalenka gave a new interview to the UK Guardian where she spoke at length for the first time about the death of her ex-boyfriend, former international ice hockey player and fellow Belarusian Konstantin Koltsov, age 42, that occurred just before the Miami Open.
Sabalenka admits that now, after much reflection, she perhaps should have done things differently to cope with the personal loss.
“Once, I lost my father and tennis helped me to go through that tough loss,” Sabalenka says in the interview. “So at that moment (of Koltsov’s death) I thought I had to just keep going, keep playing, keep doing my thing to separate my personal life from my career life.”
In 2019, Sabalenka endured the sudden loss of her father Sergey by choosing to continue playing and focusing on her career. The two-time reigning Australian Open champion chose a similar plan after Koltsov’s death. Though she made a brief social media statement about his death and thanked her fans for their support, Sabalenka chose to carry on despite what she called an “unthinkable tragedy”.
Koltsov’s death was ruled an apparent suicide by local police.
Sabalenka, after news of Koltsov’s passing broke, surprised many by choosing to play in Miami. A few days later, Sabalenka played against her good friend Paula Badosa in an opening round match. Ultimately, Sabalenka made early exits at both Miami and Stuttgart and feels now she should have taken more time to recover mentally.
“But at the end I would say I was struggling a lot healthwise because I didn’t stop. It was really emotional and really stressful, and kind of damaged my mental health at that point.
“Probably, looking back right now, I would say that a better decision would have been to step back, reset and recharge, and start everything over again. But I did what I did. At the end I paid for my decision, but I’m really glad that I have tennis in my life and it’s really helped me go through whatever and get stronger.”
Sabalenka later this summer withdrew at the last minute from Wimbledon due to a shoulder injury. As she needed to recover, she did not compete the Summer Games in Paris. The extended time off was needed according to the WTA star.
“It was really sad and I was struggling a lot not to play Wimbledon, of course, but at the same time I was able to take all the benefits from the time. I was doing a lot of rehab and treatment, but I was able to enjoy my life and my time away from tennis, and take all the good sides of not competing on tour. “At the end I figured out that it was much needed. Now I feel physically and mentally much better and much stronger.”
Sabalenka, who recently won the Cincinnati Open, enters as the No. 2 seed in the women’s singles draw at this year’s US Open which starts on Monday.
Photo Credit: Getty