Aryna Sabalenka revealed in Netflix’s tennis documentary that wanting to fulfill her late father’s dream put more pressure on her to deliver at the Grand Slam level. In 2019 November, Sabalenka’s father Sergey suddenly passed away at the age of 43.
In late 2022 – when filming the second season of Break Point – Sabalenka told Netflix cameras that she and her father dreamed of her having “a couple of Grand Slams before 25.” Sabalenka won the women’s doubles at the 2019 US Open and 2021 Australian Open but her ultimate goal was to land a Grand Slam singles title.
At the start of the 2023 season – just a few months before turning 25 – Sabalenka became a Grand Slam singles champion after beating Elena Rybakina in the Australian Open final.
Sabalenka on wanting to win a Slam and fulfill her father’s dream
“I lost my father four years ago.
We had one dream: that before 25 I will win a couple of Grand Slams. And when he passed away, I started thinking too much about it. Now I’m 24 and there is zero in my pocket. I feel like I just put so much pressure on myself,” Sabalenka told Netflix in late 2022.
The 2022 season definitely wasn’t the easiest for Sabalenka, who was heavily struggling with her service and she was struggling with consistency for pretty much the entire season. At the Grand Slam level in 2022, Sabalenka made the Australian Open round-of-16 and before exiting the French Open in the third round.
Then, Sabalenka was banned from competing at Wimbledon before making the US Open semifinal. In 2022, Sabalenka wanted to win a Grand Slam but she only managed to make one notable Slam run. “My ambition was to win a Grand Slam and to finish the year as world No 1.
But now I’m in the end of the season. There is zero titles in my pocket,” Sabalenka said in late 2022. After winning the Australian Open in January, Sabalenka admitted it was a major relief.
