The Tamesis
Although she has been accused of trying to apologize to get away from her fault, spending time with Sabalenka is to experience the gulf between players and people. Off the court, she is relaxed, relaxed, self-deprecating, undefended and thoughtful. It makes sense that this version of her might look at the other version with some degree of remorse once the game is over. “You have to admit you were wrong,” she said, then laughed. “And I’ve been wrong a lot.” But she disputes the idea that being grumpy is necessarily bad. In fact, she believe in it. “When I was younger, I would get emotional, and then I would get really angry at myself for being emotional. Now I understand that it’s okay to throw the racket. It’s okay to yell. It’s okay to go crazy if you feel like you’re in too much control. Sometimes you just have to let it go and clear it out so you can start over and play the game. Yeah, sometimes it looks ugly and scary, but I need it to keep my head above water.”
Sabalenka’s immense popularity shows that fans agree with her that ugly and scary things can make for exciting tennis. She trails only Gauff in brand endorsement earnings, with sponsors including Nike, watchmaker Audemars Piguet and, in January, Gucci. The historic Italian brand carefully selects its brand ambassadors; in tennis, that means only Sabalenka and men’s No. 1 Jannik Sinner. In March, she walked the front row of Gucci’s Milan Fashion Week show, which included Shawn Mendes, Romeo Beckham, Donatella Versace and boyish Formula 1 driver Kimi Antonelli. She has twice the number of followers on Instagram as any other active women’s tennis professional. Intensity, authenticity, humor, charisma – Sabalenka’s success off the court proves these are just as valuable as a great first serve.
“People know when you’re authentic and when you’re your true self,” said her fiancé Fran Goulis. “There’s always going to be some tough stuff in the game because Aryna will say how she feels. She’ll also be on Instagram and TikTok “
Big names have big admirers and big detractors, and Sabalenka realizes she’s not to everyone’s taste. It doesn’t matter. “Even though there’s a lot of love, a lot of attention and a lot of success, there’s always going to be people who judge you,” she said. “They judge your appearance, your grunt, your nationality, even your private life, your choices. I don’t scroll often, but sometimes I scroll on Instagram, TikTok, Threads I’d see random comments on Facebook and I’d ask my manager, ‘Do people really hate me that much? ‘ And then I walked into the stadium and I felt so much support and I realized that on the internet, there are so many people but so many voices, and I thought, you don’t even have the guts to show your face. None? Or sometimes you click on the profile and you see this is a mother with three kids, a happy family, living a very traditional, perfect life. Her message to you is “I hope you die, I hope your family gets cancer, you’re a whore.” “I think: There’s something wrong with the planet.”
