On Saturday (September 6), Aryna Sabalenka won her second-consecutive US Open title. After her triumph, the Belarusian spoke to media at length, highlighting the moments in the finals where she almost lost control, making a candid admission about her mental health, and opening up about the mindset that cost her titles earlier this year.
Sabalenka arrived in New York as the defending champion and a two-time US Open finalist. As the reigning World No.1 and a maestro on hard courts, the 27-year-old was a front runner to lift the trophy. In line with expectations, she dominated in her early matches, making it all the way to the semifinals before dropping a set.
On finals day, Aryna Sabalenka faced off against home player Amanda Anisimova. The duo engaged in a close fought battle, trading blows back and forth before Anisimova faltered and the Belarusian emerged victorious 6-3, 7-6(3). After the match, Sabalenka admitted that there were two moments during the night when she was on the brink of losing control of her emotions, saying in her press conference,
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“In this match, in the first set when she broke me back, and then at the end of the second set when she broke me back, there was like two moments where I was really close to lose control. But at that moment, I told myself 'no, it's not going to happen, it's absolutely okay'. You expect in the final that the player is gonna fight back and will do her best to get the win. So I was just trying to focus one step at a time.”
Reflecting on her emotions, Aryna Sabalenka also opened up about her mental health and her work with a psychologist. The World No.1 shared that she'd trained with a psychologist for a few years before realising that that she was relying on the mental health professional too much, saying,
“Well, mental health, it's very important, and I've been working with psychologists for four or five years, and she helped me a lot at the beginning. But then at some point, I realized that I was relying on her so much. I thought that she has to fix me. And so I wasn't really taking responsibility over my actions. So at some point I decided, okay, I have to take responsibility and I have to figure it by myself. And I think it actually worked really well. And I think that was the right move for me.”
Sabalenka shared that taking responsibility for her emotions had helped her understand herself better, a key aspect that helps her stay calm under pressure. The tennis star also emphasised that she wasn't against taking help in the future if she felt the need for it.
Aryna Sabalenka reflects on overcoming the mindset that cost her the Australian Open and French Open titles
For Aryna Sabalenka, 2025 started off as a year of near misses. She kicked off her season at the Australian Open, where she made it to the finals, but was unable to defend her title after losing to Madison Keys in an unexpected upset. A few months later, Sabalenka made it to her second-consecutive Grand Slam final at the French Open, but she fell short in the summit clash yet again, this time to Coco Gauf.
Reflecting on the mindset that cost her two Major titles, Sabalenka admitted that she'd expected easy wins in the finals, telling media,
“I was in Mykonos, reading my book, enjoying the view. And I was just thinking that why would I let my emotions take control over me in those two finals? And it felt like I thought that, okay, if I made it to the final, it means that I'm going to win it. I sort of didn't expect players to come out there and to fight, I thought that everything gonna go easily my way, which was completely wrong mindset.”
Aryna Sabalenka went on to emphasize that she turned this mindset around in time for the US Open, saying,
“Going into this final, I decided for myself that I'm gonna control my emotions. So my mindset was just going out there, fight for every point. And I think from what I understand today, that the lesson learned and I really hope it will never happen again if I'm going to be playing another finals, that I'll be more in control.”
For Aryna Sabalenka, her triumph in New York marks her fourth Grand Slam title. Previously, the Belarusian has won the 2023 and 2024 Australian Open titles, as well as the 2024 US Open trophy.
