Richard Pagliaro | @tennis_now | Sunday, May 25, 2025
Image source: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Tennis is a solo sport, but it is still a family matter Aryna Sabalenka.
Sabalenka’s beloved father Sergey introduced her tennis after being driven by a local tennis court at the age of six. Her father instinctively felt that his daughter would like the game, turned around and took her back to the tennis court.
Sabalenka is ranked number one in the world, and she launched her pursuit for today’s first Roland Garros title to allocate the biggest beat of her French Open career. Sabalenka rushes into nine consecutive wins Kamilla Rakhimova 6-1, 6-0, with her most unbalanced victory in Paris, reaching Roland Garros in the second round.
Afterward, Sabalenka shared that her parents were never rushing or harsh in her tennis.
In fact, the U.S. Open champion said that her parents only asked: don’t smash the racket in court.
Spoiler Alert: Sabalenka did not meet the request.
“My parents were not someone who pushed me too much,” Sabalenka told the media in Paris. “Their only request was to stop hitting the racket, and I wasn’t really following the order.
“But I’d definitely say that Eastern European schools are very tough. I think that’s why people who survive in that school, they’re really tough.”
The 2023 Roland Garros semifinalist said her experience in tennis training in Belarus was a double-edged sword.
On the one hand, Sabalenka said surviving the junior high training made her a tougher competitor, but on the other hand, she saw some players breaking by “brutal” coaches, which was a punishment requirement.
“I have to say, maybe it’s because of the environment and the history of European countries, we’re going to be much harder,” Sabalenka told the Paris media. “Whoever goes through something hard, they’re more mentally and physically stronger than the rest of the world, but most girls are touring…
“I absolutely think the environment we have in our country is very tough, the coaches are very cruel, you know, there is no benefit in the way they work with players. I think that’s why our mindset may be stronger, but at the same time, they’re kind of like a lot of players because that radical idea is.
“I think in Europe and the states, the environment is healthier.”
