Four years ago, a 24-year-old Aryna Sabalenka was enduring what she called one of the ‘worst seasons’ of her career. No titles, plenty of struggles, and, as the then-World No. 5 admitted, she was ‘fighting with herself.’ But there was more on her plate than just trying to find her form. As Russia-Ukraine tensions escalated, Sabalenka also found herself dealing with harsh comments from coaches of Ukrainian descent, making an already difficult season even tougher.

In an exclusive interview with Time Magazine, Sabalenka opened up about the many moments that shaped her career, including the criticism she faced as geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine intensified.

“Some of the Ukrainian coaches, they would say really, really, really mean stuff to me,” Sabalenka confessed. In fact, the comments hit the Belarusian hard, taking an emotional toll and leaving her particularly vulnerable during that difficult period.

“I don’t want to repeat it. It was so terrible. So it got to my head, and I would be hysterically crying,” she added. Back in 2022, such external noise only added to Sabalenka’s burden.

She was struggling with her serve, committing 452 double faults that season. The Belarusian used her mental strength to get past the troubled period, while keeping the coaching setup of Anton Dubrov and Jason Stacy, while also recognizing the need for a biomechanist in Gavin MacMillan to correct her serve.

Sabalenka eventually found her footing toward the end of 2022, reaching the semifinals in Cincinnati and at the US Open before making it to the final of the year end WTA Finals. That late-season surge set the stage for her breakthrough in 2023, when she won her maiden Major in Melbourne and truly began taking over the Tour. But while her tennis was finally turning a corner, the criticism wasn’t going anywhere.

Speaking about the fallout at Indian Wells in 2023, Sabalenka admitted how deeply it affected her, saying, “The reaction of people, some different things made me feel really bad – that this is my fault. But then I realised that this is not under my control. I did nothing, nothing bad against Ukrainian people. This is just not my fault.” Following this, Sabalenka denied making any further comments.

Ahead of Wimbledon that year, she made her stance clear, opening her first press conference by asking accredited media to steer clear of political questions. She had already adopted the same approach at the Berlin tournament before heading to London, telling journalists to refer to official transcripts of her previous statements when faced with questions beyond tennis.

Three years on, Sabalenka has put that difficult chapter behind her and is focused on holding onto the World No. 1 spot. But with the US Open approaching, the pressure is back on, the Belarusian will need a strong run to keep her place at the top.

Aryna Sabalenka Faces Tough Challenge Going in the US Open

Going into the US Open, Aryna Sabalenka runs the danger of not winning a Major in a season for the first time since that transformative 2023 season. The World No.1 reached the final of the Australian Open, losing to Elena Rybakina in three sets, but it was her next two Slam losses that raised doubts about her dominance.

At the French Open, she struggled with the windy conditions and could not close out her quarterfinal clash against Diana Shnaider, despite winning the first set and being 5-3 up in the second set. The top seed lost ten games in a row to get knocked out, struggling in the windy conditions of Paris for a second year in a row after her loss to Coco Gauff in the 2025 final.

The Wimbledon loss to Naomi Osaka was significant for Sabalenka, as it was her first straight-set Slam loss since the 2020 US Open and the first time she could not reach at least the quarterfinal of a Major since the 2022 French Open, underscoring the Belarusian’s consistency at the biggest events on the Tour.

Following multiple early Slam exits this year, Sabalenka sought home comforts as she had a home trip to Minsk, but that did not change her fortunes on the court, as she had an early loss against Ekaterina Alexandrova in the Canadian Open. With Rybakina reaching the final in Toronto, the gap between her and Sabalenka is only 300 points on the rankings, something which is an additional challenge for the World No.1 in the upcoming weeks.