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‘My Heart Is Broken’ – Serena Williams’ Ex-coach and Kim Clijsters Send Condolences to Aryna Sabalenka After Her Boyfriend’s Tragic Passing

Published 03/19/2024, 2:03 PM EDT

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Aryna Sabalenka is having quite a turbulent time right now. While she is at the peak of her career, putting on strong performances tournament after tournament, she has been hit by a massive tragedy. Her boyfriend, Konstantin Koltsov, a former ice hockey player, passed away tragically in Miami. It sent shockwaves through the entire community and renowned tennis personalities are offering support to Sabalenka during this tough time.

Stars like Serena Williams’ ex-coach, Rennae Stubbs, and former World Number 1, Kim Clijsters, took to social media to offer their condolences to Sabalenka. Let’s find out what the two had to say.

Tribute pours in after the boyfriend of Aryna Sabalenka tragically passes away

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Social media was abuzz with support for the Belarusian tennis star after Koltsov’s shocking death, [TRIGGER WARNING] purported to be a suicide. Serena Williams’ former coach, Rennae Stubbs, too joined in the tribute as she took to her official Twitter handle to share her message. Stubbs said, “My heart is broken for Aryna.” Subsequently, she also shared a broken heart emoji to convey her feelings.

Similarly, Kim Clijsters paid tribute through her official Instagram handle. The retired tennis star shared a picture of Sabalenka and Koltsov via a story on her Instagram handle and had an emoji showing a moving star floating around in the air.

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The news about Koltsov’s death was confirmed by a statement from his team. Koltsov used to play ice hockey professionally and was the coach of the Salavat Yulaev club. Recently, reports suggested that he passed away due to suicide, although it is unclear why he took this drastic step.

Sabalenka and Koltsov were in Miami when this incident took place. The former was preparing for the Miami Open, in which she was one of the favorites to win the title. Although it remained unlikely that Sabalenka would participate in the tournament following this incident, recent reports suggest otherwise.

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Sabalenka’s brave tennis step

According to various reports, it is suggested that Sabalenka will participate in the Miami Open despite her boyfriend’s tragic death. However, she won’t be doing any interviews or press conferences before or after her matches.

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This is an extremely bold step taken by the Belarusian tennis star, at a time when she was hitting the peak of her career. She is the second seed in the tournament and will begin her campaign in the round of 64 after being handed a bye in the opening round.

One can hardly imagine the emotions that she would be going through now. Can Sabalenka battle this tragedy and achieve success at the Miami Open? Everyone’s hopes lie with her.

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Written by:

Vatsal Shah

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One take at a time

Vatsal Shah, a Tennis Writer at EssentiallySports, combines sports management insight with two years of rich content creation experience. His journey at ES involves delving into the core of tennis, covering ATP/WTA tours, and contributing around 2000 articles. Notably, one of his pieces on Venus Williams garnered over 400k views.
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Edited by:

Arunima Bhanot