How Aryna Sabalenka brought brat summer to 2024 US Open

NEW YORK—When Aryna Sabalenka injured her shoulder, Wimbledon summer was canceled. The world No. 2 flew home to Miami and began a brat summer instead.

“Probably someone from above was telling me to stop, recharge, and take some time off,” Sabalenka tells me ahead of the Cincinnati Open, lifting her eyes towards the ceiling. “I had to completely switch off, and I think it’s what I really needed. It was tough but at the same time, I did try to have fun and enjoy life. I was able to forget about tennis for a little bit and not be so concerned with me as a player or how I’m going to come back.”

In between dinners at Casadonna, formulating her signature Dobel tequila recipe—aptly named the Marg-Aryna—and filming Charli XCX-themed Tik Toks, Sabalenka was finally able to process the last six months, a period where for every triumph, disaster was not far behind.

“It’s been tough, of course,” she says. “I wouldn’t choose these challenges for my life, but whatever it is, I’m going through it. It only makes me stronger as a person.”

She began 2024 by becoming the first woman in over a decade to defend her Australian Open title. Roaring through the draw without dropping a set, she fulfilled the dream she shared with late father Sergey, who passed away in 2019, of becoming a multiple major champion by her mid-20s.

“I think my personality came from my father,” she said at her US Open Media Day press conference. “I wish he were still alive. I think we would have so much fun together right now.”

The 26-year-old suffered a second devastating loss when, just days before she was due to compete at the Miami Open, ex-partner Konstantin Koltsov took his own life. She played two matches in obvious emotional distress but ultimately drew strength from a team comprised of coach Anton Dubrov, fitness trainer Jason Stacy, and hitting partner Andrei Vasilevski.

“Kids—or their parents—they always ask me the best advice I could give, and of course, I tell them to work hard and everything, but the best advice I would give is to surround yourself with the right people, people you can trust, people you can talk to about anything. It’s so important to have someone you can talk through whatever’s going on.”

Sabalenka leans on the trio in lighter times, as well, incorporating them into pre-match rituals and frequently enlisting them as co-stars in increasingly more elaborate Tik Tok skits.

“I really put them under so much pressure to do it,” she laughs. “They were like ‘Oh my god, this is so stupid! It’s not funny,’ and I was like, ‘But it’s exactly us! We have to do this video.’”

The video in question borrows audio from the cringe comedy PEN15, with Sabalenka playing the object of her team’s surreptitious gossip.

“Sometimes I look over at them and they’re having a chat but looking at me funny. I’m thinking, ‘For sure, they’re talking trash about me!’”

Sabalenka finalized her team when the sport locked down due to COVID, promoting Dubrov to head coach and solidifying what has become one of the tightest bonds on tour.

“I just realized that we’ve been through a lot with this group of people, and they never left me or doubted my success,” she said. “They always believed in me, and they were always there and talking to me, making sure I’m all right.

“Trust is a process, like everything in life. It’s something you build over time.”

Her bonds are equally strong with fellow players, establishing a Dumas-level rapport with Paula Badosa and Ons Jabeur. Think The Three Musketeers, but with meme swaps instead of sword fights.

“We’re on Instagram all the time, sending each other reels,” Sabalenka revealed. “The last one Paula sent me, I was dying laughing because that’s exactly how I feel sometimes. It’s about English skills, like there’s ‘the English in my head,’ and it’s a picture of a beautiful cow, and then there’s ‘the English when I talk,’ and they took laundry and made it into the shape of a cow. That’s my favorite one because I feel like sometimes I’m hearing myself speak perfect English and I’m like, ‘Ok, where did that come from?’ Then the next day I’ll wake up and be unable to put two words together.”

Sabalenka’s English, it must be said, has vastly improved since we first spoke in an empty player area at the 2018 National Bank Open—so long ago the WTA website stopped hosting the article. Anyway, she had just turned 20, Beats headphones were wrapped around her neck and swear words flowed almost freestyle in the absence of cleaner prose. Given the ill luck she has encountered at the last two major tournaments, she would be forgiven for letting a curse or two loose in private.

She was rounding into form at Roland Garros when a stomach bug hastened her exit in the quarterfinals, and while we already discussed Wimbledon, it’s worth noting the depths to which this injury shook The Girl with the Tiger Tattoo.

“It was a disaster for me,” she said plainly. “I felt like, because I didn’t stop when I had to, I got to the point when I got injured. I thought the only way to get through a difficult challenge was just to work through it, keep focusing on my job. It was too much stress on myself without realizing that.”

She returned to action on hard courts with a healed body but doubtful mind, an unfamiliar state for a player who, win or lose, plays the most effectively affirmative style on offer within the women’s field.

I wouldn’t choose these challenges for my life, but whatever it is, I’m going through it. It only makes me stronger as a person. Aryna Sabalenka

“I learned that I can have fear,” she says, somewhat surprised by the revelation. “But not fear of the opponent or fear of losing something. Just the fear of getting injured. I would have thought I was strong enough to come back and not think about it. But it’s been a different experience where you don’t want to go get injured again and be out again. Even if it’s only a couple weeks, it can affect your ranking, your tennis position, your confidence on court.

“I finally feel like I’m back to feeling normal, without that fear,” she continued. “With every match I play, I feel better. Hopefully, by the US Open, I’ll be in my top shape.”

Sabalenka made good on that claim in Cincinnati, storming to the title with wins over world No. 1 Iga Swiatek and Toronto champ Jessica Pegula. The victory over Swiatek was her first in over a year, having lost three in a row to her closest rival dating back to last fall.

“When someone leads against you 8-3 you kind of feel like, ‘Okay, I gotta keep it interesting,’” she told Swiatek at the net and again in press.

Where Swiatek dominates on clay, Sabalenka has historically had the edge on quicker courts. She has lived up to expectations through the first week, easing through the draw almost a year removed from her runner-up finish in Flushing. Her face visible across the grounds, the No. 2 seed is everywhere and *so* Aryna, charming Louis Armstrong Stadium when she embraced a cosplaying young fan after her second-round win.

“It’s not like I didn’t always love New York,” she prefaces, “but I think last year, I got to experience the city and learn about it more. I went to some really good dinners, and so I’m really excited to go back. I had some really good meals at the Polo Bar and Fouquet’s.

“They’re going to have the Marg-Aryna there, too,” she adds knowingly. “It’s kind of like a little piece of me will be part of the tournament. I love that and that makes it even more exciting.”

She laughs, asking if she’s inadvertently coined a new nickname.

“There’s already Tiger, Saby, but Marg-Aryna sounds good, actually!”

I asked her flat out in New York if she was having a brat summer and despite a good laugh, she ultimately hedged, describing the last few weeks as “a lot of hard work and a little bit of Tik Tok.” Rather than brat, perhaps Sabalenka is more Miami, equal parts sunrise and nightlife.

“I really enjoy breakfast and having a cup of coffee,” she tells me. “Off the court, I’ll go for a good dinner with people I enjoy being around. That’s what brings me joy.”