Ever since she turned pro, Aryna Sabalenka has worn her emotions on her sleeve on the tennis court. She’s not shy about expressing herself, in good moments and bad, and over the course of her career she’s evolved into one of the mentally strongest players on the Hologic WTA Tour.
But getting there required a ton of hard work, discipline, practice and some difficult decisions.
Speaking on the Jay Shetty Podcast, while discussing her morning routine and how she prepares for a match — she loves to sleep in — the World No. 1 explained that she worked with a sports psychologist for many years early in her career, but ultimately decided to part ways after she found that she was falling into the same traps repeatedly.
She needed to let go and find her own way.
“I worked with a sports psychologist for four or five years,” the back-to-back US Open champion told the podcaster and life coach. “We did some sort of meditation. We did a lot of things at the beginning of my career, but then I found that I was relying on her so much. I was expecting her to fix my problems, my emotions, and I was repeating the same mistake over and over again.
“I was getting upset about that, so at some point I decided, ‘OK, I have to take responsibility over my actions.’ I stopped working with the psychologist, and that was the moment I started learning about myself, when I actually understood myself better. I started to control my emotions much better, and it felt more balanced when I took that responsibility.”
The four-time Grand Slam champion, who defeated Amanda Anisimova in the US Open final this past weekend, said it was a great move for her personally, but she’s not opposed to working with a psychologist again — and adding meditation back to her daily routine — in the future.
Speaking to reporters after her straight-sets win over Anisimova, Sabalenka said she worked hard to manage her emotions, and not let them overtake her, in the championship match on the sport’s biggest stage.
“To bring the fight and be able to handle my emotions the way I did in this final, it means a lot,” she said in the post-match press conference. “I’m super proud right now of myself.”
Further proof of her mental strength and ability to stay within herself? Sabalenka has won 19 consecutive tiebreaks — especially impressive considering the service woes that formerly plagued her — the longest streak by any woman in the Open Era.