The younger generation of players worships tennis legends like Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber. However, that is not the case with the 24-year-old Belarusian player, Aryna Sabalenka, who has different priorities at the moment. She saw the two legends have a face-off against each other at the 2016 Australian Open finals and decided to miss that. Now that she has become an Australian Open finalist, she shared one anecdote embarrassingly. She opened up about why she passed on their final for something more “appealing”.
Aryna Sabalenka sheepishly admits missing out on Serena Williams vs. Angelique Kerber finals.
Tennis might be a breathing and living element in some players’ life. However, this was not the case with the current world no. 5, Aryna Sabalenka. And now that she has reached the final of her first Australian Open, she accepted some guilt-ridden facts about her life.
What did Sabalenka say?
In the post-match conference after her semifinal victory, a reporter asked her about watching any Grand Slam finals from when she was young. To this, she had to tell her guilty truth. She said, “I think I remember that match Kerber against Serena. She played against Serena in the final, no? Yeah, I think I remember a little bit.”
Sabalenka had more to add.
Reminiscing about that day, she stated, “There was TV in the cafe. I was buying some chocolate. Like, Oh, nice match, good job (laughter). Can I get my chocolate?” Confessing her ignorance, she stated, “To be honest, I didn’t watch tennis that much. I don’t know why. I feel so bad right now.”
Elena Rybakina, the perfect opponent for Sabalenka.
Rybakina is someone who is not too appealed to by anyone on the WTA tour. During a post-match conference, Rybakina confessed she did not consider Maria Sharapova her idol. For that matter, no one in the WTA circuit appealed to her eye. It is the ATP tennis star Roger Federer, who is her idol and source of inspiration.