Aryna Sabalenka claims she is ‘addicted to wins’ ahead of return
Aryna Sabalenka is gearing up to play her first tournament since retaining the Australian Open title, and the Belarusian has spoken about her desire to keep on winning.
Sabalenka elected to skip last week’s event in Doha, but is present for the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai as the second seed.
And the 25-year-old has spoken about the mental work she has done to help herself become a two-time major champion, “I guess I was always searching for something which can help me to control myself better. After some years working with a psychologist, I just decided to take the responsibility on myself and not wait for somebody to help you fix something.
“At the end the only thing helping me is myself; just stop[ping] expecting people to fix my problems, [and] start fixing my problems by myself. I think that’s brought much more confidence and much more control.”
Sabalenka’s best result at the WTA 1000 event in Dubai is reaching the quarter-finals, and the world No.2 is hoping to add a 15th career title in the Middle East this week.
“My mindset is to keep doing what I’m doing, keep fighting, keep working,” revealed Sabalenka. “After my career, to look back and think, ‘Whoa, I was able to achieve that. That’s crazy’.
She continued, “I’m not the type of person who is going to win something and stop. Like I said, I’m addicted to wins. I felt like it’s just something in my blood and I keep doing, keep working, and hopefully keep winning.”
Two-time @AustralianOpen champion and World No2, @SabalenkaA, kicks off her Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships campaign with a shopping spree at @DubaiDutyFree! ???? pic.twitter.com/7ioqHOMG9K
— Dubai Tennis Champs (@DDFTennis) February 18, 2024
As the second seed, Sabalenka receives a bye to the second round where she will play Donna Vekic, who actually has a winning record (2-5) against the Australian Open champion.
Inside the baseline…
Aryna Sabalenka is coming into the Dubai Tennis Championships fresh, following her dominant performance in Melbourne last month. It will be interesting to see if she can continue this form on the hard courts of Dubai, where she has never claimed the title before and is in the same half of the draw as Elena Rybakina, Marketa Vondrousova and Maria Sakkari.
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