Aryna Sabalenka has revealed she is “really glad” she lost the 2023 US Open final to Coco Gauff as she has “learned a lot” from it.
The three-time Grand Slam champion explained that the experience of the defeat has helped her maintain her focus in matches where crowds are against her.
Sabalenka fell to a 6-2, 3-6, 2-6 loss to Gauff in last year’s US Open championship match after looking in a strong position to prevail early in the second set. She has admitted that the vociferously pro-Gauff crowd affected her in the match.
The Belarusian star has secured four titles, including two majors, during what has been the best season of her career to date in 2024.
In this year’s US Open final, Sabalenka was up against a crowd firmly behind an American opponent again when she faced Jessica Pegula and she handled the occasion expertly to win 7-5, 7-5.
The world No 2 then overcame Chinese home favourite Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in a hard-fought title match at the Wuhan Open last week.
In her press conference after her victory in Wuhan, Sabalenka was asked how her experiences of facing crowd favourites had helped her against Zheng.
“I’m not really focusing on the crowd when they’re against me anymore,” the 26-year-old explained. “I don’t really hear them. I’m just focusing on myself and my team.
“I’m trying to stay focused and keep thinking what I have to do on court, like just thinking about tactic, technical issues. Yeah, that’s it.
“I think that match against Coco [in the US Open final] last year gave me a lot. I’m actually really glad I lost that match because I think it was better for me.
“I learned a lot. Right now, if crowd is against me, I’m okay with that. I don’t really hear them. I’m focusing on different things, yeah.”
Last month, Sabalenka’s coach Anton Dubrov discussed how Sabalenka has improved at performing in high-pressure situations, including when the crowd is strongly supporting her opponent.
“Your own hormone has already been developed there: when you go out onto the Arthur Ashe against the American,” Dubrov told Championat. “I think Aryna’s advantage is that she has the opportunity to become more active.
“At the early stage of her career, she went into wild stress and began not to play to her strengths and physicality, but to rush, play hyper-aggressively, behave loudly – and thus simply losing control.
“Now she has learned to better direct stress where she can control it, to add pressure on her opponent. This process was long.
“We discussed it a lot in training, but the final say was hers, because she found confirmation through wild and difficult matches – that it works: she does not need to rely on luck, but needs to slow herself down a little physically in these moments, but also emotionally.
”Now she can do more at a higher level: even if she plays a Slam final against the American, where any of her points will be cheered loudly, you continue to focus on yourself.”