"Wish my father would still be alive" - Aryna Sabalenka turns emotional over late dad, credits her fun-loving personality to him

Aryna Sabalenka recently opened up about losing her father Sergey and the role he played in her career. She also talked about how she drew her joyful personality from him.

The Belarusian recently capped off an amazing week in Cincinnati, winning her sixth WTA 1000 title. The World No. 2 defeated Elisabetta Cocciaretto, Elina Svitolina, and Liudmila Samsonova on her way to the semifinals, where she met World No. 1 Iga Swiatek. Sabalenka won 6-3, 6-3 to reach the final, where she defeated Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-5 to win the title.

The reigning Australian Open champion has now turned her attention to the final Grand Slam of the year, the US Open. In a pre-tournament press conference, she talked about how her personality is similar to her late father's.

"I mean, I think my personality came from my father. I wish he would be still alive. I think we would have so much fun together right now," Sabalenka said.

She said her approach to tennis has changed with experience, particularly her relationship with joy and pressure.

"This joy came with the experience and with the understanding a lot of stuff. Because before, I was probably too much into tennis and trying to be too focused, like, putting myself under so much pressure. Lately, I just realized that this is not how things works," she said.

The World No. 2 said players need to balance, hard work, expectations, and pressure with the little joys of life.

"You have to balance this hard work, these expectations, pressure, and everything, with little joy. You know, you have to find, like, things which brings you joy, and I have my crazy team and we have so much fun together (smiling). Yeah, and I think that's really important to balance these things. Just trying to be me off court, you know, just not to be too serious or too focused," she added.

Aryna Sabalenka: "My father took me to the [tennis] courts"

Aryna Sabalenka at the 2024 US Open (Image: Getty)

Aryna Sabalenka credits her late father Sergey Sabalenka for kick-starting her tennis career. She said this in a conversation with Firstpost after winning her first WTA title in 2017: the 125K Series L&T Mumbai Open.

“One day, my dad was just driving me somewhere in the car, and on the way he saw tennis courts. So he took me to the courts. I really liked it and enjoyed it and that’s how it was. That’s how it started,” Aryna Sabalenka said.

In the tennis-centric docu-series, Break Point, she said her father had a dream: encouraging her to win a couple of Slams before turning 25. Sabalenka fulfilled her father's wish this year, lifting her second Grand Slam title at the 2024 Australian Open.