"What happened to her father, ex-boyfriend, they have an impact" - Kim Clijsters on US Open champ Aryna Sabalenka's approach to tough circumstances
Kim Clijsters has hailed Aryna Sabalenka as a rare example among players who have successfully managed to move on from personal losses. Clijsters also spoke about the 2024 US Open champion opening up about her decision to stop working with her psychologist.
Sabalenka has suffered personal tragedies on more than one occasion. She shared a tight-knit relationship with her father Sergey, who sadly passed away in 2019 due to meningitis complications. Earlier this year, the former World No. 1's ex-boyfriend Konstantin Koltsov took his own life shortly before the commencement of Sabalenka's Miami Open campaign.
Former World No. 1 Kim Clijsters, recently spoke up about how such losses can have long-lasting impacts on people who experience them. Clijsters made these remarks during her appearance on a recent episode of the Served With Andy Roddick podcast, hosted by former ATP World No. 1 and 2003 US Open champion Andy Roddick.
"I think what happened to her father, the situation in Miami with her ex-boyfriend, they have an impact on your life" Clijsters said (26:40).
The four-time Major winner recalled a press conference where Sabalenka shared her decision regarding her psychologist.
"I think it was at the Australian Open few years ago, where she said like, 'Yeah, I just started to look, everyone is recommending a psychologist to me and a couple of times I went to talk to my psychologist and I realized like, everything you're saying is things I have to handle myself. I don't need this. I need to grow up. I need to figure out like, okay, my attitude needs to change in certain ways,' and there's not a lot of players who can do that," Clijsters added.
Sabalenka's remarks, which Clijsters referred to, were made during the former's maiden Grand Slam title-winning run at the 2023 Australian Open.
"Every time I'm hoping someone will fix my problem" - When Aryna Sabalenka opened up on her decision to quit seeking a psychologist's guidance
Amid her run to the 2023 Australian Open title, Aryna Sabalenka shared she had parted ways with her psychologist. At the time, the Belarusian said she felt that having relied on a psychologist for years, she had become dependent on others to solve her problems. Sabalenka added she felt her problems were her own responsibility.
"I decided to stop working with a psychologist. I realized that nobody than me will help. On the pre-season, I spoke to my psychologist saying, 'Listen, I felt like I have to deal with that by myself because every time I'm hoping that someone will fix my problem. It's not fixing my problem, so I just have to take this responsibility and... I have to deal with that.
"And yeah, I'm not working with psychologist anymore,"Sabalenka said.
Along with dealing with the grief in her personal life, Sabalenka also worked on improving her serve, which was considered a major weakness in her game before 2023.
However, lately, the No. 2-ranked Belarusian has established herself as one of contemporary women's tennis' elite players, with her serve being regarded as a potent weapon in her seemingly ever-growing array of shots.