"Aryna Sabalenka’s super intimidating, but she’s also a big teddy bear" - Jimmy Connors' son Brett on Belarusian's 'great smile' & 'funny' personality
Jimmy Connors and his son Brett shared their insights on the contrast between Aryna Sabalenka's intimidating on-court demeanor and amiable off-court personality. Their comments follow the Belarusian's impressive run to clinching her maiden US Open title.
Sabalenka recently exorcized the demons of her loss to Coco Gauff in last year's US Open final, claiming a 7-5, 7-5 win over Jessica Pegula to secure her third Grand Slam title. While the World No. 2 was visibly impacted by the crowd's overwhelming support for Gauff at the 2023 edition of the New York Major, she displayed a different mindset during her title clash against another home favorite in Pegula.
During a recent episode of the Advantage Connors podcast, Jimmy Connors asserted that Aryna Sabalenka had developed a "fear factor" after her US Open triumph. However, his son Brett argued that while the Belarusian was "super intimidating," her funny and playful personality off the court gave a "teddy bear" quality.
"The funny thing about Sabby (Aryna Sabalenka) is, she’s super intimidating. She’s big, she’s strong, her game is huge, she has all these weapons but then, she’s also like a big teddy bear. She’s got a great smile and she’s funny, she laughs, makes jokes," Brett said.
Brett Connors also revisited the hilarious instance of the World No. 2 bribing the US Open crowd with an offer of free drinks to earn their support during her semifinal clash against Emma Navarro.
"They asked her in one of the interviews afterwards like, 'It was tough last year, you lost the match to Coco and a lot of the crowd was on her side obviously. What can you do to turn it around when you play an American tomorrow?' She was like, 'I’ll buy everyone drinks,'" he said.
Brett highlighted that it would've cost Aryna Sabalenka approximately $200,000 to buy everyone at Arthur Ashe Stadium a glass of the Honey Deuce cocktail. Jimmy Connors playfully suggested that it was a worthwhile investment considering the $3.6 million prize money on offer for the champion at the New York Major.
"And someone figured out that with 15,000 people there, all getting the Honey Deuce, it would be almost $200,000 out of her pocket," Brett said.
"Listen, winning $3.5 million, I’d do that. That’s a pretty good trade off," Jimmy Connors responded.
The former World No. 1 also pointed out that, despite the 26-year-old's friendly demeanor, Sabalenka became a "different person" when she stepped onto the court.
"It’s interesting, you said she’s a big teddy bear until you say serve it up. Once she’s inside the lines and she’s on that court, she’s a different person. You can be whatever you want off the court but once you get on that court, you’ve gotta be you and you’ve gotta know who you are and the kind of tennis that you can play. Not try to be anybody else," he said.
"Aryna Sabalenka is more consistent than Iga Swiatek" - Jimmy Connors' son Brett
During the same podcast, Jimmy Connors' son Brett argued that Aryna Sabalenka has been more consistent than her rival and World No. 1 Iga Swiatek at the Majors in recent years.
While Swiatek has won five Major titles compared to Sabalenka's three, since her triumph at the 2022 edition of the New York Major, the Pole has only managed to reach two Grand Slam quarterfinals, at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships and the 2024 US Open, outside her success at the French Open.
"Last year, she (Aryna Sabalenka) lost that US Open final to Coco and then went into Australia determined and just kind of blew through that field, won her second Australian Open. She wanted to probably avenge last year’s US Open kind of again and kind of rolls through the field again. So, she’s more consistent than Iga," Brett said.
"I think, Iga’s won five Slams to Sabby’s three but Iga’s got four of them at Roland Garros and the one US Open in ’22 and I think she’s only made one quarterfinal at a Grand Slam since 2022 besides RG," he added.
Jimmy Connors, meanwhile, praised Aryna Sabalenka for learning from her mistakes and making the necessary improvements to her game, suggesting that even when the World No. 2 is "not at her best, she’s still good enough."