Aryna Sabalenka’s ex-coach Dmitry Tursunov opened up about his time with the World No. 1 in a recent interview, admitting that it was difficult at times to work with her in the early days of her career.
Sabalenka and Tursunova worked for about 1.5 years, from the 2018 grass season until the 2019 US Open, following which they split up for a brief while before re-uniting. However, it did not stick, and the pair announced that they will stop working together again at the end of the year.
Speaking to Russian media Sports Express in a recent interview, Tursunov revealed that some of the things Sabalenka did back then “offended him,” even if she did them unintentionally.
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"For me it was a period when I gave my all, sacrificed everything for the sake of the result. Aryna, due to her young age and ease, sometimes behaved incorrectly. Not on purpose, but some things offended me," he said.
Dmitry Tursunov attributed it to the Belarusian's age, recalling an instant from 2018 when he had to yell at her because she was "messing around" on the court with her doubles partner the day before her singles final.
"2018, her first final on grass. The day before, Aryna played in doubles with Xie Shuwei — and was clearly messing around. Hee-hee, ha-ha... I exploded," he said.
"I said directly: “You’re doing bullshit! Laughing, having fun on the court. This is disrespectful — to your partner, your opponents and yourself. Why waste time? You don’t strive to win, and you’re not preparing for tomorrow’s singles final. You have a chance to take the trophy — and you’re going to blow it all?!”" he added.
At the final in Eastbourne, Aryna Sabaleka ended up losing, going down to Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets.
"Aryna Sabalenka wanted to fire me" - Dmitry Tursunov
Continuing in the aforementioned interview, Dmitry Tursunov revealed that his actions did not go down well with Aryna Sabalenka, who did not understand why he was upset with her at the time.
The Russian admitted that they went on to have a huge fight, following which she complained to her sponsor and wanted to get him fired.
"I was very upset by her behavior, her careless attitude to the matter. Hence the scolding. At that time she didn't understand what was going on. Why such a reaction."
"We had a fight, Aryna went out to dinner with a sparring partner. In her eyes, he was a good cop, and I was an evil one. In addition, she complained about me to her sponsor, wanted to fire me," he said.
Thankfully, the sponsor understood that her coach was in the right and calmed Sabalenka down. After splitting from the World No. 1's team, Tursunov went on to coach a host of players, including the likes of Emma Raducanu and Belinda Bencic.
