Arina Sabalenka, the Belarusian tennis star, expressed her frustrations at Roland Garros, hinting at a possible boycott of the Rome Masters. Her media conference was unusually brief. "This has never been about me but about players who need support the most. We wanted to handle this with dignity and respect, but it's not about the media who we hold in high regard — it's about making things fair for us," she emphasized at the start of her media conference.

Managing Emotions

Throughout her career, Sabalenka has worked on managing her emotions to achieve better results. "Yes, I have. I've seen that excessive emotions would destroy my game and my level would drop dramatically when I started overreacting. At the same time, my opponents would see this and play better, which I noticed. It was important that my opponent didn't know what was happening in my head, and I played better and stayed in 'the zone.' This has been a huge improvement in my career and really helped me raise my level," she explained.

Training with Rivals

Sabalenka enjoys training with her rivals like Elena Rybakina and Iga Swiatek, something that wasn't as common in the past. "I feel we are all friendlier to each other now, in good relations and better communication. We've progressed in this area over the years — going out to train with our rivals, improving our tennis and becoming better to each other," she noted.

Despite not having as many matches on clay as previous years, Sabalenka remains the top-ranked player. She acknowledged that her expectations for the tournament have changed due to injuries and results on clay. "We are all here for one reason — to win the trophy — and it doesn't matter that I haven't played many matches on clay. I know how to play on clay, and it all comes down to being physically and mentally healthy, going for the win, and being ready to fight. I am ready to fight and hope to do better than last year," she concluded with a smile.

(Vuk Brajović)