Aryna Sabalenka is a disciple of self mastery (every achiever is)a model for perfection, of reaching your potential, she is not there yet but has being able to go the distance, willing to take extra miles necessary in getting to the finish line. Aryna has given us practical steps on how to achieve anything. This is an immeasurable lesson on what we can learn from Sports, from Sabalenka.
Aryna began her professional journey in 2015 and had her breakthrough in 2017 when she paired with Sasnovich to reach the finals of the FED cup, a first for Belarus. she went on to win two majors with double partner Mertens at the 2019 US and then 2021 Australian open. before now, Sabalenka’s most important singles ranking milestone is reaching the number 2 ranking in 2021 in August, after some inconsistent results she is currently the second best player in the world in the rankings but, any assessment of her achievement does not stop with her biggest single career win at this year’s Australian open but her consistency within when she reached the season ending finals in Texas, United States and when she defeated the world number one Swiatek to win her second Madrid masters trophy in may. her best string of results in her career yet, She is the Hologic WTA tour leader and has the most top ten wins of any player since her first win in Eastbourne 2018, when she best Pliskova, according to Opta ace, which she has extended to 26.She is the best player on current form alone. it is these titles and consistency that has marked her, her ability to overcome her weaknesses has given us a template to overcome ours, it is this detail that gives us an insight on her remarkable career and a solution to any problem.
how to overcome setbacks
Identify the problem.
understanding the problem
Having an awareness that it can be resolved.
overcome it! put in the work.
Aryna’s power game comes with a price
it’s tough to identify a problem,it requires a painful dissection of self, mentally similar to the physical process of self operation. it’s usually possible by a military- like kind of mind set, a desire to overcome anything no matter the cost.It requires lots of soul searching, of allowing fresh wounds to heal, of accepting all vulnerabilities that is relating to the problem , it also requires trust and patience in the process and to work with the strength it brings. She handled it so well. her quote after winning the 2023 Australian open gives us a glimpse of her Champion mindset.
“I really feel right now that I really needed those tough losses to kind of understand myself a little bit better. It was like a preparation.
“I actually feel happy that I lost those matches, so right now I can be a different player and just different Aryna.”
She was overwhelmed by errors in her game, her double faults and unforced errors was costing her important matches. during crunch time, a period in big games that require perfection or at least reaching the finish line before your opponents she usually falls short, She has reached three major semi finals without getting to the finals. that mental strength to overcome self and whoever was in front of her was not strong enough. she was able to identify such weakness without any unnecessary pressure on herself or self gloating. this discovery was the beginning of her victory at the biggest of stages and a threshold for her future success. She understood the problem -when it starts, how it does affect her and what needs to be done.
Aryna doubled her effort on her double faults.
She was able to identify, measure(to enable her ascertain the level of effort needed) and resolve the problem at least to a large extent, it is considerably under control,the mistakes are drastically reduced.double faults became a target for improvement, her fault became her forte, a fortress. usually when we develop a skill it unconsciously attracts a flaw, further progress will require eliminating that defect alone while reprocessing and refining the skill. she hired an expert biomechanics for her wayward serve and a psychologist to overcome her mental hurdle a solution for the physical and mental aspect of the problem. She went to work.
Aryna had the confidence to overcome her double faults and unforced errors.
Her confidence was gotten from her belief in herself, a positive revaluation on how she got to where she was, her experience, positive energy from the people around her and most importantly from abundance which enables us to know that what we can achieve can be greater than what we have and makes us strive for more. Sabalenka is a great team player evident in her triumph in doubles, her double major titles on hard court and reaching the highest ranking in the world, for her singles career, in reaching the WTA finals in 2022 which has the eight best players facing each other in a round robin group format and then the knock out stage for the two best players each from both groups, She became only the fourth woman in the open era and second from Europe in defeating American Pegula, Arab and African sensation Jabeur in the group matches and then Swiatek the number one ranked player from Poland in the semi finals in succession that meant defeating the top three players in the world in the same event which had only been achieved by Graf and the Williams sisters immortals of tennis, she lost to Garcia in straight sets in the finals, which was just a temporary setback, it was a final push that lifted her game, it was these kind of defeat that prepares and propels your progress like the Saudi Arabia defeat of Argentina at the men’s football world cup, incidentally both happened in November 2022, Both went on to win historic titles. few weeks later she went on an unbeaten run in the new year winning a title in Adelaide, in Melbourne, when she faced Linette in the semi finals, a road block in the past three majors, a progression regardless, 2 semi finals in 2021 losing Wimbledon to Pliskova despite taking the first set, then to the unseeded Fernandez in the US open, she lost again in the US open the following year to Swiatek in three sets losing despite taking the lead. in her fourth attempt several months later She had belief, all her relearning, new energy and calmness enabled her win in straight sets crucially not panicking despite going a breakdown in the first set. She had passed her most difficult test
in her first major finals her opponent was the Wimbledon champion Rybakina, Aryna had her number, leading her head to head 3-0 but caution is also needed, those previous meetings pales into insignificance if complacency plays in and the opponent is in the zone, takes opportunities during the critical phase with a determination to change the narrative it will lead to defeat a reverse of fortune. not surprisingly Aryna started with a double fault but, she was able to realize that victory was possible, her inner self had already defeated her weaknesses, for her it was just a warning to shift into an extra gear, a reminder that a problem is what you make of it and how you handle it makes the difference.She responded taking the game to a third and final set, Rybakina was on a run, the sort that made her win Wimbledon in the summer, in Melbourne she had knocked out Swiatek,Ostapenko and Azarenka to reach the finals three consecutive grand slam champions preventing an historic all Belarusian finals. she was stopped by Sabalenka a woman on a mission. In winning her first major title she became the first Belarusian woman since Azernka in 2013 to win the Australian open and a major.
She did it all by herself with a uniqueness in fixing her problem.
During pre season she realized that she needed to become her psychologist and did just that, it was a decision taken by her sound ability to know what was needed at that point, to eliminate those faults. she listened to her inner self and heard the truth, an honesty that was daring and different, conventionally most were using a psychologists but her path was similar to Federer in the period that he had no coach, it was even when he won the elusive french open, at the latter stage of his career he worked with Annacone and Edberg, Australian open champion Aryna went on a winning streak until her loss to Krejcikova in dubai in the quarter finals ending her thirteen match unbeaten run,it was not a slump by any means she also lost to Rybakina in the finals at Indian wells. again her strength and composure was evident in her victory over her major rival Swiatek in Madrid, what made it heartening was her ability to bounce back from losing the stuggart finals to her, she also had not been able to take a single set off her on clay, She already had a blue print, had been a champion in Madrid, had defeated Barty the former number one ranked player on the same surface, She had a new composure and was a grand slam winner also, the surface in Spain suited her game in the rankings it was number one seeded Swiatek versus number 2 seeded Sabalenka but in reality the reverse was the case the stats was just an optical illusion she prevailed in three sets, taken her first two sets from her, another milestone. anything is possible for only those who believe.
