"I lost my father & tennis helped me" - Aryna Sabalenka reveals why she chose to 'keep going' after ex-boyfriend's death, at the cost of mental health

Aryna Sabalenka recently opened up about how she dealt with her ex-boyfriend Konstantin Koltsov's death and explained why chose to keep going after his demise. However, looking back on things, the Belarusian felt that her approach toward the situation could have been different. The two made their relationship public in June 2021 but had parted ways before Koltsov's demise in March this year.

Sabalenka is currently competing at the North American hard-court swing, where she won the Cincinnati Open without dropping a single set, defeating Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-5 in the final. This title win helped the Belarusian return to the top two of the WTA rankings, overtaking Coco Gauff.

In an interview with the Guardian, the 26-year-old talked about how she faced the grief of losing her father with the help of tennis and decided to take the same approach to deal with Koltsov's death. She decided to keep playing and keep her personal and professional life separate.

“Once, I lost my father and tennis helped me to go through that tough loss. So at that moment [of Koltsov’s death] I thought I had to just keep going, keep playing, keep doing my thing to separate my personal life from my career life."

However, she admitted that struggles persisted, and the constant media attention the news was receiving damaged her health emotionally and mentally.

“But at the end I would say I was struggling a lot healthwise because I didn’t stop. It was really emotional and really stressful, and kind of damaged my mental health at that point."

Reflecting on the tough period, Aryna Sabalenka said that she would have benefitted from taking some rest to rejuvenate herself but starting afresh, however, she mentioned that she paid for her decision. The World No. 2 reiterated her delight in having tennis by her side as she felt that the sport helped to make her stronger in tough times.

“Probably, looking back right now, I would say that a better decision would have been to step back, reset and recharge, and start everything over again. But I did what I did. At the end I paid for my decision, but I’m really glad that I have tennis in my life and it’s really helped me go through whatever and get stronger," Sabalenka said.

It was initially believed that Sabalenka and Koltsov were still in a relationship at the time of his death, however, the tennis star later confirmed that they had parted ways before his demise.

Aryna Sabalenka will be seen in action at the 2024 US Open next

Aryna Sabalenka with her Cincinnati title (Image Source: Getty)

Aryna Sabalenka started the north-American swing with a semifinal run at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, where she was stunned by Marie Bouzkova. She then lost to Amanda Anisimova in the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open.

The World No. 2 found her footing in Cincinnati where she defeated the likes of Liudmila Samsonova, Iga Swiatek, and Jessica Pegula to clinch the WTA 1000 title and will now turn her focus towards the US Open

Aryna Sabalenka came extremely close to lifting the New York Major last year but lost to Coco Gauff in the final despite being a set up.