By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, November 9, 2021
Immobilized by Coronavirus last month, Aryna Sabalenka is relishing her top-seeded status as this week's WTA Finals.
World No. 1 Ash Barty pulled the plug on her 2021 season last month, which places the second-ranked Sabalenka as the No. 1 seed in her WTA Finals debut.
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The absence of defending champion Barty provides opportunity for Sabalenka, who has played only two matches since contesting her second straight Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open last September.
"I think I'm doing well with the pressure," Sabalenka told the media in Guadalajara. "Yeah, I'm, like, really happy to be here, especially top seeded.
"I couldn't imagine one day I will be top speeded on the WTA Finals. For me this is something amazing and unbelievable. I'm really super happy with my level this year. I'm really proud of my team, what they have done for me this year. Yeah, I'm just really looking forward for all these big matches. I'm really hoping that I can show my best and I can show great tennis and go as far as I can."
Following her Flushing Meadows surge, Sabalenka tested positive for Coronavirus and served a 10-day quarantine that knocked her out of Indian Wells where she would have been the top seed. Sabalenka said Coronavirus knocked her off her feet for four days and wiped out her sense of taste and smell before her health improved.
"Well, for four days I was really sick. I couldn't move," Sabalenka told the media in Guadalajara. "After four days, it was all about the quarantine. I think maybe on day six I could already go out and maybe do some jogging or start to do some preparation, but, yeah, I couldn't go out. I stay in the room for 10 days.
"I was doing some workout there, but it wasn't enough. It's not so much space, you cannot move. You just stay in one place and do floor exercise. Honestly, it's not really helping that much. But, yeah, I was sick for four days at least. I didn't have taste, I didn't have smell. Wasn't really amazing time."
The 23-year-old Belarusian took a wild card into last month's Kremlin Cup in Moscow where she showed signs of rust from her layoff winning her opener before bowing to Ekaterina Alexandrova in the quarterfinals.
Sabalenka spent a training block in Miami where she said she received the Johnson & Johnson jab. The top seed said she feels healthy ahead of her Guadalajara opener on Thursday.
"I think I'm clear right now because in Miami I did the vaccine, Johnson and Johnson," Sabalenka said. "I think I am safe from... I don't know... Hopefully I'm safe because I don't want to stay on the quarantine anymore. It's not a lot of fun."
Photo credit: Getty