By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday July 6, 2021
Watching Aryna Sabalenka hammer past Ons Jabeur on Tuesday at Wimbledon, it’s hard to imagine that a player of this caliber took so long to reach the last eight of a Grand Slam.
But it’s true.
And she followed that up by reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal a day later.
After her 6-4, 6-3 victory over Jabeur, Sabalenka talked about the process of learning to deal with the pressure and expectations that come with playing in Grand Slams.
“I was struggling on the Grand Slams with all emotions going through,” she told reporters. “After every slam I was so disappointed about myself that I can't handle this pressure. I actually thought that I will never make it to the second week. We worked a lot with my psychologist and with my coach—so we worked a lot.”
Sabalenka, who is playing her 15th Grand Slam main draw and entered Wimbledon as the only Top-20 seed that had yet to reach a major quarterfinal, was asked what she told herself, and how she learned to cope.
“Just breathe,” she said. “It's okay, you can do it. Keep fighting. Keep doing everything you can. That's it. Actually, that's it.”
The Win over Boulter Helped Her Unlock Her Game
Her second-round victory over Great Britain’s Katie Boulter is the type of match where Sabalenka could have stumbled in the past. She dropped the first set and the 219th-ranked wild card was playing amazing tennis, with the Centre Court roaring her every winner.
But Sabalenka weathered every rough patch in the match. She saved a break point while serving out the second set at 5-3, which might have proven disastrous if she had been broken. Then she saved all six break points she faced in an 18-point service game at 5-3 in the third set. Again, crisis averted. She closed out the victory in the next game.
Sabalenka hasn’t looked back since.
“Actually that match was really important for me because she had some opportunities in the third set,” she said. “I could easily lose it. But I'm really happy that I was able to compete there, I was able to fight, and I was able to find the way in that match.
“Definitely that match shows me, like, I can go through different situation. I just have to believe in myself and fight and do everything I can and that's it. So that match was really important for me and I'm really happy that I won that one.”