{"id":46254,"date":"2026-08-15T08:09:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T03:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=46254"},"modified":"2026-08-15T08:09:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T03:09:27","slug":"how-aryna-sabalenka-became-the-most-compelling-player-in-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=46254","title":{"rendered":"How Aryna Sabalenka Became the Most Compelling Player in Tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<section>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.time.com\/v3\/assets\/bltea6093859af6183b\/blta4c42c1cc847431b\/6a7b405214408067e1cceba4\/SHOT-5_0570_C.jpg?branch=production\" \/><figcaption> \u2014Photograph by Molly Cranna for TIME<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/collection\/time100-sports\/2026\/aryna-sabalenka\/\">Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> did not get completely drunk.<\/p>\n<p>In July, Sabalenka, the world\u2019s top-ranked women\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7018385\/tennis-healthiest-sport-us-open\/\">tennis<\/a> player, lost to <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/6077128\/naomi-osaka-essay-tokyo-olympics\/\">Naomi Osaka<\/a> in their round-of-16 match at <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/07\/11\/why-wimbledon-is-still-the-biggest-stage-in-tennis\/\">Wimbledon<\/a>. It was her first straight-\u00adset defeat at a major in nearly a half-dozen years. What\u2019s more, it was her second surprise exit in a row from a Grand Slam tournament. So when she took her place before the assembled media at her postmatch press conference, she did not mince words: \u201cI just want to go get completely drunk,\u201d she said, \u201cforget about tennis and try to get better, in better shape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The comment created worldwide headlines, but now she is ready to set the record straight. \u201cI had a couple of drinks,\u201d Sabalenka tells TIME some three weeks after the loss. \u201cI danced a little bit, I forgot about tennis for a couple days. But I never get drunk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the Wimbledon disappointment, Sabalenka, 28, took a vacation to Greece, posting her leisure activities on social media as she went. She has more followers across TikTok and Insta\u00adgram, 7.2 million, than any other active women\u2019s player (aside from <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7277099\/serena-williams-interview-time100-2025\/\">Serena Williams<\/a>, who returned to Wimbledon at 44 but injured her knee in a first-round loss) as well as a YouTube series chronicling her life called <em>Aryna\u2019s Arena<\/em>. The second highest paid female athlete in the world in 2025\u2014she took in about $30 million, according to Sportico, trailing only <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/collections\/time100-leadership-series\/6970223\/coco-gauff-interview-2024\/\">Coco Gauff\u2019s<\/a> $31 million, and has deals with blue-chip brands like Nike, Gucci, Stella \u00adArtois, and Emirates\u2014Sabalenka danced, sipped espresso martinis, lounged poolside, and dived off a boat into the Aegean Sea.<\/p>\n<p>Some observers, however, were unimpressed. \u201cMore tennis less TikTok,\u201d wrote one guy. What these haters don\u2019t understand, Sabalenka explains, is that she finds posting therapeutic. \u201cYou just forget about everything,\u201d she says. \u201cYou try to dance, try to move your body, so for just that 30, 40 minutes, sometimes an hour, it\u2019s just being focused on one thing and not thinking about other stuff. It\u2019s just like a small getaway.\u201d Sabalenka rolls her eyes at the snide commentary. \u201cSometimes I go to their profile and see how perfect they are,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I\u2019m like, \u2018Dude, just figure out your own sh-t before you jump into others\u2019 lives.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.time.com\/v3\/assets\/bltea6093859af6183b\/blteec830ddc5f78db3\/6a7c93abbf22b2c4a9960528\/TIM260907-Sabalenka-Cover-FINAL.jpg?branch=production\" \/><figcaption> \u2014Photograph by Molly Cranna for TIME<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>We\u2019re speaking in a well-\u00adappointed South Florida home, replete with a tennis court and pool, not far from where she lives. And despite her detractors, Sabalenka seems relaxed and happy. Unlike at Wimbledon, where her pleas to allow dogs on the grounds went unheeded, she has her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy Ash\u2014named after Arthur Ashe Stadium, where she has won the past two <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7018984\/aryna-sabalenka-wins-us-open-2024\/\">U.S. Open<\/a> titles\u2014nearby. Ash is a good boy, disrupting neither the photo shoot nor our chat.<\/p>\n<p>Brash, goofy, hard-\u00adhitting, unfiltered, aggressive, unafraid to lose her temper at her coach and support staff in front of a global audience\u2014this package makes Sabalenka arguably the most compelling player in tennis. \u201cI want to be remembered as a fighter on court, but so cool and fun off court,\u201d she says. \u201cI think it\u2019s really important for kids to understand that you have to balance. You don\u2019t have to be fully, fully focused on your dreams. One day they can destroy you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the U.S. Open main draw beginning on Aug. 30, Sabalenka\u2014who\u2019s had to cope with personal losses and a contentious geopolitical climate on her journey to the top\u2014remains in prime position to fulfill her wildest aspirations. She\u2019s already one of just 10 women\u2019s players in history to hold the top ranking for at least 100 weeks, joining the likes of <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/collections\/100-most-influential-people-2025\/7273813\/serena-williams\/\">Serena Williams<\/a>, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Chris Evert. \u201cTo see my name somewhere in there, it\u2019s pretty sick,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<figure><video><\/video><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<section>\n<p>She\u2019s underperformed, however, at this year\u2019s Grand Slams. At the Australian Open, Sabalenka reached the final on hard court, her best surface, but current world No. 2 Elena Rybakina mounted a comeback. With a cadre of top-ranked players knocked out of the French Open in June, Sabalenka had what looked like a clear path to her first Roland Garros title. But in the quarterfinals, she dropped 10 straight games to Diana Shnaider of Russia. Then Osaka bounced her out of Wimbledon.<\/p>\n<p>If Sabalenka, a nearly 6-ft.-tall four-time major champion with one of the fastest forehands in the game, doesn\u2019t lift the trophy in New York City, it would be the first year she\u2019d fail to win a Slam since 2022, jeopardizing her grip not only on the world No. 1 spot, but also on the public imagination. A third straight U.S. Open victory, on the other hand, would make her nearly immortal. She\u2019d become the first player since Williams a dozen years ago to three-peat there, and just the third woman in the modern era to do it, with Evert being the other.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s history,\u201d says Sabalenka. \u201cYou get hungrier as you go.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Sabalenka\u2019s independent streak has been evident since she was a child in Belarus. As the girls training in Minsk strove to follow in the footsteps of Victoria Azarenka, the country\u2019s only singles player to claim the top spot before Sabalenka, instructors demanded strict adherence to the tactics they were teaching. But if Sabalenka had a better way, she said so. \u201cAryna was the one who always argued with the coaches,\u201d says Anton Dubrov, Sabalenka\u2019s current coach, who met her when she was 14. \u201cShe was showing who she is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sabalenka\u2019s father Sergey, a former hockey player whose own athletic career was derailed by an auto accident when he was 19, introduced his rambunctious daughter to tennis when she was 6. And while Sabalenka now embraces social media for both business and pleasure, she didn\u2019t have much use for it as a kid; practice, school, and playing games like hide-and-seek into her teenage years occupied her time. \u201cWhat\u2019s the point of taking pictures of yourself and posting and sharing?\u201d she says. \u201cWho cares? That was my first thought.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Growing up mostly off the grid, in a country with a population not much bigger than Dallas\u2013Fort Worth\u2019s, benefited Sabalenka. \u201cI think that not having Insta\u00adgram really helped me to focus on myself and not really get upset or depressed about not living the best life,\u201d she says. She was blissfully ignorant of the tennis industrial complex and is thankful that she never trained at a pressure-\u00adcooker Florida academy, where many teens burn out. \u201cIt\u2019s so much tougher here,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.time.com\/v3\/assets\/bltea6093859af6183b\/bltc7c3b96b59e07c15\/6a7b40515798c976375a28a8\/SHOT-1_0107_C.jpg?branch=production\" \/><figcaption> \u2014Photograph by Molly Cranna for TIME<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Still, she would be tested again and again in the early years of her career. In 2018, when Sabalenka was 20, she was named WTA Newcomer of the Year: she won two tournaments and beat top-10 opponents eight times. The next season, Sergey died unexpectedly of meningitis at 43. \u201cWe just started to get closer, like friends,\u201d she says. \u201cHe was easy to talk to. He would be the person that would really help me to get back on track whenever things wouldn\u2019t work well.\u201d They had set a goal for Sabalenka to win two Grand Slam titles by the time she turned 25. That pact backfired after Sergey\u2019s death, as Sabalenka pushed herself too hard to honor her father through Slam titles. Her mother Yulia intervened. \u201cShe said, \u2018What are you talking about?\u2019\u201d says Sabalenka. \u201c\u2018He was proud of every match you would win. Just you being able to compete on this level was huge for him.\u2019 It really helped me to loosen up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Sabalenka soon faced another problem: Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine from Belarusian soil in February 2022 caused a rupture on the tour. \u201cSome of the Ukrainian coaches, they would say really, really, really mean stuff to me,\u201d Sabalenka says. \u201cI don\u2019t want to repeat it. It was so terrible. So it got to my head, and I would be hysterically crying.\u201d Wimbledon banned Russian and Belarusian players that summer; players from those countries still don\u2019t compete under their flags, and most Ukrainian players still refuse to shake their hands.<\/p>\n<p>Sabalenka wants peace and does not support the war. \u201cNo one does,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s so obvious.\u201d Does she support Belarus\u2019 authoritarian President, Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin? \u201cI don\u2019t want to talk about it,\u201d she replies.<\/p>\n<p>She was already struggling with her serve before the conflict. The additional stress didn\u2019t help. \u201cMy heart rate would go so high up, and I wouldn\u2019t be able to breathe normally,\u201d says Sabalenka. \u201cI completely lost it. I had to play tennis without a serve.\u201d She finished with 428 double faults in 2022, 151 more than any other player on tour.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my 50 years, I\u2019ve seen a handful of really troubling yips on the serve,\u201d says former player and veteran tennis analyst Pam Shriver, who reached the U.S. Open final in 1978. \u201cSabalenka\u2019s was the worst. I was shaking my head, thinking, \u2018Oh my God. Is this great talent ever going to recover?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.time.com\/v3\/assets\/bltea6093859af6183b\/blt3cf5913aee041feb\/6a7b4052bf22b23c1995de86\/SHOT-2_0272_C.jpg?branch=production\" \/><figcaption> \u2014Photograph by Molly Cranna for TIME<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Indeed, Sabalenka came close to quitting. \u201cI felt like, OK, the whole world is telling me, \u2018That\u2019s it,\u2019\u201d she says. But before that year\u2019s Cincinnati Open, her team called in a biomechanics expert. Within a week, Sabalenka had smoothed her motion, stabilized her balance, and in essence rebuilt her delivery. She reached the U.S. Open semis, falling to the eventual champ, <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/collections\/time100-leadership-series\/6273975\/iga-swiatek-tennis-psychology-training\/\">Iga Swiatek<\/a>. Then before the 2023 season, she made an unusual move in today\u2019s athletic era, where mental health is paramount. She dropped her sports psychologist. \u201cI feel like at some point I started to overthink about psychology,\u201d she says. \u201cI would rely a lot on that and forget about focusing on my tennis. So I decided to step away from it to learn on my own how to control myself. No one else understands myself better than me.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>This self-knowledge would prove critical as Sabalenka navigated the highs and lows of the next few years under an ever brighter spotlight. She won her first major, the 2023 Australian Open, that January. \u201cI put my family name in history,\u201d she says. \u201cI wasn\u2019t wasting my time and energy. I was doing the thing that was right for me. I am where I\u2019m meant to be.\u201d She reached No. 1 for the first time later that year and repeated her Australian Open victory in 2024. Sabalenka had now won two Grand Slams. At 25. Pretty much as she and Sergey dreamed. \u201cThis is something big,\u201d she says. \u201cIt gave me so much belief inside me. I became way, way stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019d need to call on that resilience that March when her ex-boyfriend, former NHL player Konstantin Koltsov, died of an apparent suicide. Sabalenka was preparing for the Miami Open at the time, and Dubrov and others suggested she take some time off. But Sabalenka still wanted to play. She lost in the third round, and some on social media knocked her for returning right away. \u201cTennis really saved me from depression,\u201d she says. \u201cI was just trying to focus on training, just so I spend less time with myself in my thoughts. I would cry in practice a lot. It was a very tough moment in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She began a relationship with Brazilian entrepreneur Georgios Frangulis that year. \u201cHe was really supportive and really helpful for the team,\u201d says Dubrov. \u201cHe was always asking us, \u2018What do you think, guys? Should I be at practice? Should I be at the matches?\u2019 Sometimes relationships can be not helpful. But he was asking, \u2018What do you think would be the best for her?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Frangulis, founder and CEO of the a\u00e7a\u00ed chain Oakberry, proposed in March 2026, just a few months after Sabalenka called him out in front of a packed Brisbane International arena: \u201cThank you to my boyfriend. Hopefully soon I\u2019ll call you something else, right?\u201d Ideally, she says, they\u2019ll get married in Greece in September 2027. She\u2019d love to start a family at 32, then return to the tour for a few seasons before having a second child. But she brings up a version of an old Yiddish adage: Man plans, God laughs. \u201cThat\u2019s what ideally I want,\u201d she says. \u201cBut whatever life\u2019s going to bring, I\u2019m ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.time.com\/v3\/assets\/bltea6093859af6183b\/bltba8211bfcf98511f\/6a7cd40b14408099bfcd193b\/260907_wsabalenka_002-web.jpg?branch=production\" \/><figcaption>Serving in the U.S. Open final in New York City in September 2024 \u2014Susan Mullane\u2014ISI Photos\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.time.com\/v3\/assets\/bltea6093859af6183b\/bltc1aa30150265b5a7\/6a7cd40b206705823840dc4b\/260907_wsabalenka_003-web.jpg?branch=production\" \/><figcaption>Sabalenka after winning her second straight U.S. Open title in September 2025 \u2014Foto Olimpik\u2014NurPhoto\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Sabalenka won her first U.S. Open in September 2024. She reached her first French Open final the following June, before crashing out against <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7291919\/coco-gauff-wins-french-open\/\">Gauff<\/a>; Sabalenka committed 70 unforced errors and shouted at her box, a frequent habit when things go south. \u201cI used to have hair, completely,\u201d notes Dubrov.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes, a racket smash or a tantrum directed at her team can reset her game. But her rage didn\u2019t help against Gauff. And her response to the loss ignited controversy. \u201cShe won the match not because she played incredible, just because I made all of those mistakes,\u201d Sabalenka told reporters. The ensuing firestorm taught her a lesson. \u201cJust shut up and wait a little bit longer before you go to the press-\u00adconference room,\u201d she says. \u201cSpeak with your team before you actually decide to say something. Every time I lose a big match, there\u2019s a room full of people waiting for the moment. No. Not gonna happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sabalenka apologized to Gauff for her \u201ccompletely unprofessional\u201d comment, and the pair did a fence-\u00admending TikTok dance together at Wimbledon.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>While critics focus on her meltdowns, fans, friends, and rivals appreciate that what you see is what you get. \u201cAt the end of the day, she\u2019s a very authentic person,\u201d says fellow pro Paula Badosa of Spain, Sabalenka\u2019s closest friend on tour. \u201cShe always shows the way she is. That\u2019s one of the things that makes her unique.\u201d Even as she has acknowledged that her emotions sometimes get the better of her, Sabalenka refuses to disavow her passion. \u201cI will never be completely in control,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen I hold that negativity inside, it keeps growing, growing, growing, growing. It destroys you from the inside to the point that you don\u2019t have any energy and power to compete and to fight. So I\u2019ve found it really helpful to just yell something. I have to release it.\u201d She would love a designated racket-bludgeoning area at tournaments. \u201cBetween the sets, you just go to that room, you let it go, and you come back as a new person,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.time.com\/v3\/assets\/bltea6093859af6183b\/bltcc32313af2429324\/6a7b448a017cc12f52b380a3\/SHOT-4_0489_B.jpg?branch=production\" \/><figcaption> \u2014Photograph by Molly Cranna for TIME<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>She also expresses not just rage but also joy. When Sabalenka rallied for the U.S. Open repeat last September, she tweaked her leg in the process, and her physiotherapist, Helen Murawska, scrambled to schedule an MRI. \u201cShe\u2019s like half-\u00adlimping, and then suddenly the tequila\u2019s flowing and she\u2019s dancing on a table,\u201d says Murawska. \u201cI was like, \u2018I\u2019m just going to put my blinkers on for this. Let her enjoy it.\u2019\u201d Sabalenka showed up to the scan: her leg was fine.<\/p>\n<p>Sabalenka took a swing at something new last offseason. In December, she and Nick Kyrgios, the controversial but talented Australian player, played a \u201cBattle of the Sexes\u201d exhibition in Dubai. Kyrgios won, 6-3, 6-3. Critics called it a money grab beneath a champion like Sabalenka, who defends her decision, saying she wanted to bring more visibility to the sport. She says she\u2019d do it again, but without the modified format of one serve and a smaller court on her side. And she\u2019d want a different opponent. \u201cNick was so tight, so he couldn\u2019t really bring some fun,\u201d she says. \u201cI would do it with someone else. He lost trust.\u201d She declines to elaborate. (Kyrgios did not comment.)<\/p>\n<p>It was ahead of her match against Kyrgios that she made her first comments about transgender athletes competing in women\u2019s sports, saying that while she had nothing against trans people, it wouldn\u2019t be fair. She reiterated this stance at the Canadian Open in August when asked if she supported the WTA\u2019s new genetic sex testing policy. \u201cIt\u2019s obvious that biologically, right, the men are way stronger than women,\u201d she said, \u201cso I feel like it would be not really fair for the women to compete against biological men.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, Sabalenka became just the second woman in a decade to win the \u201cSunshine Double\u201d\u2014back-to-back titles at Indian Wells, in California, and the Miami Open. She couldn\u2019t, however, carry hard-court momentum into clay season. She suffered a third-round loss at the Italian Open in May, though perhaps more notably she and other top players, like <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/collections\/women-of-the-year\/6691520\/coco-gauff-interview\/\">Gauff<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/collection\/time100-sports\/2026\/jannik-sinner\/\">Jannik Sinner<\/a>, used the occasion to advocate for a larger share of Grand Slam tournament revenue. She mentioned the possibility of a boycott. \u201cI hope it\u2019ll never get to that point,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I feel like all of the players are on the same page. If one day we have to boycott the tournament, we will definitely do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After imploding again in Paris, she mused about quitting. That night, Sabalenka says, she cried \u201clike crazy, to the point that I didn\u2019t have any tears left. The next day I woke up swollen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She got over it in three days. On the relentless tennis calendar, another major always awaits. After Sabalenka\u2019s Wimbledon defeat, and Greek island getaway, she returned to Minsk to open two clay courts at her old school. In Belarus, locals weren\u2019t worrying about her recent performances. \u201cMy phone was so crazy,\u201d says Yaraslav Shyla, a Minsk native who serves as Sabalenka\u2019s hitting partner. \u201c\u2018Can we meet her? I\u2019m from this shop, can Aryna visit us?\u2019 Close friends. Not close friends. Everyone.\u201d During her trip, Shyla estimates, Sabalenka signed 3,000 balls and posters.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>At 4 p.m. on a July afternoon, Sabalenka begins her day\u2019s second training session in 89\u00b0 heat at a private club near her home. She smashes forehands, works on volleys, takes a water break under a canopy. Sabalenka, whose tiger tattoo on her left forearm reminds her to be ferocious, returns to the court, practicing net charges and drop shots. At one point, Shyla bends over at the baseline, and Sabalenka tries to fire shots between his legs. One strikes his behind. This diversion \u201chelps take her mind off the fatigue a little and makes the practice more fun and interesting,\u201d says Shyla. \u201cOr painful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After her French Open loss, she again started talking to her sports psychologist. Fine-\u00adtuning her mental game will be key for the three-peat. \u201cIt\u2019s good to have someone back who knows you well, who can just say a couple things that are going to completely flip the page,\u201d says Sabalenka. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like a shocking reminder. \u2018Oh my God, that\u2019s exactly the approach I should have.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her vibe with New York City, where she\u2019ll also team up for mixed doubles with <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7007543\/novak-djokovic-olympics-gold-medal-win\/\">Novak Djokovic<\/a>, should help her chances. Sabalenka has her coffee spot, her breakfast spot, her favorite restaurant (the Polo Bar in midtown). She shops and goes for walks through Central Park. \u201cEveryone is rushing there,\u201d she says. \u201cEveryone is chasing something. And you\u2019re there chasing your own thing. You feel supermotivated. For living, probably I wouldn\u2019t choose New York, to be honest. But going there for two, three weeks, that\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd, always rowdy and lubricated on Honey Deuces\u2014the Grey Goose concoction of choice\u2014feeds off her emotion. \u201cI love that the whole stadium, if they support you, they get loud,\u201d says Sabalenka, who has already revealed her U.S. Open outfit, a bright orange sports bra and bike shorts under a black fishnet dress. \u201cThey go crazy. They\u2019re just there for you. It\u2019s the best thing on earth.\u201d Plus, Ash will make his first trip to his namesake stadium.<\/p>\n<p>If Sabalenka escapes the early-round traps, she\u2019ll be able to bank on her experience. \u201cShe hasn\u2019t had great results at the Slams, and that is definitely a concern,\u201d says ESPN analyst Rennae Stubbs. \u201cBut if she starts winning matches at the U.S. Open, instead of thinking about what she hasn\u2019t done this year, I\u2019m sure she\u2019ll start thinking about what she did last year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To her credit, Sabalenka refuses to downplay the meaning of the three-peat as most stars in her position would do. \u201cI want it pretty badly,\u201d she says. And she\u2019s promising quite a show, in prime time, under the big-city lights. \u201cGreat tennis, fashion, fighting, emotions,\u201d says Sabalenka. \u201cJust everything you could imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>On Set Production: The Production Factory; Hair: Keshia Tabaran; Makeup: Bo Champagne; Wardrobe: Micaela Erlanger; Wardrobe credits: Jump rope photo: Top, shorts, socks, and shoes by Nike<\/em>; <em>Earrings by Material Good; Watch by Audemars Piguet; Court photo: Dress and shoes by Gucci; Earrings and necklace by Material Good; Watch by Audemars Piguet; Closing photo: Swimsuit, shoes, and sunglasses by Gucci; Earrings and bracelets by Material Good; Watch by Audemars Piguet<\/em><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2014Photograph by Molly Cranna for TIME Aryna Sabalenka did not get completely drunk. In July, Sabalenka, the world\u2019s top-ranked women\u2019s tennis player, lost to Naomi Osaka in their round-of-16 match at Wimbledon. It was her first straight-\u00adset defeat at a major in nearly a half-dozen years. What\u2019s more, it was her second surprise exit in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static.time.com\/v3\/assets\/bltea6093859af6183b\/blta4c42c1cc847431b\/6a7b405214408067e1cceba4\/SHOT-5_0570_C.jpg?branch=production","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}