Known as the hard-hitting Belarusian with a booming but mercurial serve, Aryna Sabalenka had been plagued by double faulting woes over the past year that baffled tennis experts. Despite working with renowned coaches and sports psychologists to fix her delivery issues, 2023 Australian Open finalist Sabalenka realized the solution had to come from within.
“It was time for me to take responsibility,” remarked the 24-year-old about deciding to tackle her technique struggles solo last October. Through filming herself, relentless repetition and self-analysis of exactly where her ball toss, stance and other fundamentals erred – Sabalenka unlocked the art of serving on her own terms.
“I just worked my way through it, day in and day out, to become my own coach for my serve,” Sabalenka shared. The newly confident and composed cracker of winners explains how learning self-reliance to develop a more consistent, powerful and precise serve transpired into her grand slam breakthrough in Melbourne.
Now wielding a potentially unstoppable complete package of a robust serve matched by her thunderous groundstrokes, a revitalized Aryna Sabalenka looks destined for more 2023 milestones ahead. “I’m proud to have fixed my own problems my way,” she remarks with a smile “and excited to see how much further I can now go on court.”
