Aryna Sabalenka shows true colors with response to | Sports News

Aryna Sabalenka conceded that she doesn’t anticipate to ever attain the identical feats that Serena Williams completed during her embellished profession — however that doesn’t imply that the 27-year-old received’t attempt.

Last month, Sabalenka — who just lately returned to motion on the Wuhan Open following a stress-free couple of weeks off — added one other Grand Slam title to her trophy case after surviving a second-set meltdown towards Amanda Anisimova on the US Open.

Including her triumphant exhibiting in Flushing Meadows, Sabalenka has made seven Grand Slam finals and received 4 titles. Despite attaining no scarcity of success, she nonetheless finds herself 19 short of the 23 majors that Williams received. Margaret Court stays the all-time record-holder, in the meantime, with 24.

Speaking to reporters on the Optics Valley International Tennis Center, Sabalenka acknowledged that it will likely be “really tough” to match the identical quantity of main titles that Williams amassed.

“All of us want to beat all the records, I think it’s so obvious,” she mentioned. “I think the right thing to do is focus on yourself, on your game, on developing yourself as the player and the person and if you deserve these big titles, if you deserve to beat some records, you will.

“So my focus is on developing myself as a player. And of course, I want to, but it’s going to be really tough to compete with the Grand Slam titles that Serena has. I guess for me, the goal is to go as far as I can in this sport, and I do my best every day. I dedicate my life to the sport. So I really hope that by the end of my career, I’ll sit back, I’ll look at my results, and I’ll be really proud of myself.”

As for what benchmarks she locations for herself, Sabalenka added: “I feel like goals are so obvious, you know, and I don’t like to set up a goal. I love to focus on myself, and that what I learned throughout the year about myself, that I have to just focus on myself. And anyway, whenever I’m there competing, I want to win, so I focus on each match, like step by step.”

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During the early phases of her profession, Sabalenka was defeated in three Grand Slam finals earlier than lastly breaking by means of on the Australian Open in 2023. The following yr, she emerged victorious as soon as again on the Australian Open whereas moreover securing back-to-back US Open titles in 2024 and 2025.

It hasn’t all been easy crusing as of late for Sabalenka, who was bested within the Australian Open and French Open finals this yr. “I think those tough losses and things that I had to deal this year definitely made me stronger as a person and better as a player,” she mentioned.

“You know, it’s a learning process. And what I learned throughout the years is to accept everything and just do your best at the moment. And that’s it. Basically, that’s all you can control.”