Aryna Sabalenka says staying calm in every situation is one of the main reasons behind her deep Australian Open run. Sabalenka, 24, made her fourth Grand Slam semifinal after beating Donna Vekic 6-3 6-2 in the Australian Open quarterfinal.
With that win, Sabalenka pushed her record in 2023 to 9-0. “I feel like I have belief that no matter what happens on court, I’ll be able to get through it. I feel a little bit different. I think that I lost those three semi-finals just because I wasn’t really calm on court.
I was overdoing things. I really wanted to get this Slam. I was rushing a lot. I was nervous a lot. Screaming, doing all this stuff. Right now I’m a little bit more calm on court. I think I really believe that this is the only thing that was missing in my game.
If I can keep that focus and that calm on court, I can get through it,” Sabalenka said, per Tennis Majors.
Sabalenka not panicking anymore
In the past, Sabalenka used to lose her cool and start panicking in uncomfortable situations.
But at this year’s Australian Open, Sabalenka has been approaching every uncomfortable situation with calmness. “Before I was trying to go for aces, go for crazy shots to get easily out, to get out easily from those situations.
Right now I keep saying, ‘No, work for it. It’s not going to be easy. You have your shots, you have your serve. Just work for it and go for bigger targets,” Sabalenka said. Against Vekic, it wasn’t all ideal for Sabalenka but still she found a way to win.
In the first set, Sabalenka lost her serve once but also broke Vekic twice. Sabalenka also lost her serve once in the second set but breaking Vekic three times was more than enough for the Belarusian to escape with a straight-set win.
