New York (AFP) – Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday defeated Jessica Pegula to win the US Open title and claim a third Grand Slam title to add to her back-to-back Australian Open crowns. AFP Sport looks at three things to know about the 26-year-old world number two from Belarus:
**Personal tragedy**
Sabalenka’s rise to the top of the sport has been accompanied by tragedy. This year’s US Open was the first Grand Slam she had played since the death of her former boyfriend in March. Ice hockey player Konstantin Koltsov, once a star of the NHL, died from apparent suicide at the age of 42. Sabalenka described the death as an “unthinkable tragedy.” “While we were no longer together, my heart is broken,” she wrote on a social media post.
Five years ago, Sabalenka’s father Sergiy passed away from meningitis at just 43. It was her father who introduced her to tennis at the age of six when they started hitting balls on empty courts in Minsk. “I’m just trying to fight because my dad wanted me to be number one,” she said at the time. “I’m doing it for him.” She honoured her father’s memory by becoming world number one in September last year, a season which saw her claim her maiden Slam in Australia, finish runner-up in New York, and make the semi-finals at the French Open and Wimbledon.
**War controversy**
Sabalenka had links to Belarus’s controversial leader Alexander Lukashenko before she came under pressure to denounce him for the country’s support of Russia in the invasion of Ukraine. “I’m not supporting the war. I don’t support war, meaning I don’t support Lukashenko,” she said at a testy news conference at the 2023 French Open, where she cancelled media commitments claiming she felt unsafe. “I don’t want my country to be involved in any conflict. I said it many times. You have my position. You have my answer,” she said.
Sabalenka had enjoyed a close association with Lukashenko in the past. In 2018, she requested a one-to-one meeting with him, according to Belarusian state news agency Belta. The following year, in an interview with the country’s largest independent news site Tut.by, she spoke glowingly of the Belarusian leader. On December 31, 2020, after a year marked by the crushing of pro-democracy demonstrations in Belarus, Sabalenka toasted the new year with Lukashenko in Minsk.
**Arm of the tiger**
On the inside of her left arm, Sabalenka has a prominent tattoo of a tiger to mark the year of her birth, 1998, which was also the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese zodiac system. She’s had the tattoo since she was 18, although her parents were not immediately won over. “My parents didn’t know, and when they saw it the first time my dad was laughing. I don’t know why, but my mom didn’t talk to me for one week,” she said.
“It’s special as sometimes I need to remind myself that I am the tigress and I need to fight till the end. I just put it on my arm to make sure I can see it every time and be on fire.” Sabalenka isn’t afraid to bring others into the world of ink – for good luck, she regularly signs her name on the bald head of fitness coach Jason Stacy before every match. On Saturday, she went further and had a copy of her tiger tattoo drawn on his head instead.
© 2024 AFP
