Aryna Sabalenka: I was really afraid to come here to be honest
Tipped as one of the dark horses at this year’s Australian Open – Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka spoke about her feelings while coming to Melbourne.
“It was a really great atmosphere, a lot of people watching, which I didn’t really expect. Someone was screaming my name. I was really afraid to come here to be honest. Last year people didn’t really like me because I was screaming like crazy on the court. I think I’m a little bit quieter now,” Sabalenka said after her match.
“I’m so excited and I’m so happy to feel this atmosphere and to feel them support me.”
Working with former ATP Professional Dmitry Tursunov as her coach, Sabalenka has been working on her game, making the most of her strength and overpowering her opponents.
“Kind of like a painter, they have their own signature style, so she’s starting to have a little bit more of that,” explains Tursunov.
“She’s starting to understand how she can use her strengths and cover up her weaknesses. It’s a process, but she’s willing to go through that process because her end goals are very clear and they’re pretty high. She understands this is just the beginning of the way to get to the top.”
Speaking about her plans, Sabalenka kept it simple, she is gunning or Grand Slams and wants them fast. “It sounds crazy, but we all want to do that,” she said.
Speaking about her relationship with Tursunov, she expressed, “I’m so passionate about tennis, so everything Dmitry tells me, I’m always listening to him, even if it looks like I’m not.
“Nobody really believed in me in Belarus, except like my sponsor, I think the president [of the federation] and a few coaches. Mostly they didn’t believe in me, which was really good motivation for me to listen, have all the information, to think about that and try to absorb all this information quickly.”
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from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2RtmNrB
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