Aryna Sabalenka’s coach reveals what’s changed to help avoid another French Open final outburst

Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images

Aryna Sabalenka has never been shy about showing her emotions on the court.

It suits her sport well, too, as tennis regularly serves up wild swings in momentum and emotion, sometimes within a single match.

But in the Roland Garros final, things didn’t go her way. She struggled to cope with the conditions and lost control of the match.

Coco Gauff made the most of it, securing her second Grand Slam title – both of which have come at Sabalenka’s expense in finals.

Losses are part of the game, but how players respond to them is what sets them apart. Sabalenka understands this well and is already focused on how she can bounce back from this one.

Sabalenka makes important changes to clay court preparation

Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images

Her performance coach, Jason Stacy, appears well-suited to guide Sabalenka through these challenging periods.

He discussed the adjustments they’ve made ahead of this year’s French Open during an appearance on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, outlining how they’re working to avoid a repeat of last year’s struggles.

The American said: “Well, to be honest, like, a big focus for us right now is just to manage her energy a lot more, especially going into the European season because you know last year was an important lesson that we were realising.”

“You know, a couple of years ago, she was very consistent, getting deeper into the tournament over the last few years, you know, off and on a bit longer now. Last year, it was pretty much just, if she’s in the tournament, she’s going to be in the final. Or very, very close to that, if not winning it.

“And so it’s a lot of matches, you know, coming into the clay-court season last year, she had, you know, Brisbane, the Australian Open, you know, we had Indian Wells final, Miami winning, you know, and then just a short time, boom, she’s in Stuttgart, and then she went to, like, finals, finals, finals, quarters, you know, and then to the final of the French Open, so by the time she got to the French Open, I mean, she was so exhausted, because she had played so many matches.

“And, you know, by the time she got to the final, she was so depleted, just her energy and her ability to control her emotions and stay focused. It just like, ran right through her.”

Many players might have gone quiet after such a high-profile setback but Sabalenka responded by reaching three major finals that year – including another US Open title.

Stacy explained how they took lessons from that Roland Garros loss: “So it was a good lesson for all of us to realise, like, okay, we should just accept the fact and expect that, well, if we show up somewhere, we’re going to get to the final, and start to understand that we need to manage that as far as schedule goes, as far as all the things we do outside of the courts, how she’s managing all her obligations, like with sponsors and whatnot.

“So that’s been a big focus the last year and a half, but especially this year, now coming into the French Open. The last three years at the French Open, she showed up sick, you know, like unwell, so it’s like, okay, we, we gotta add or tweak some things there. So that’s kind of our focus from my perspective right now.”

The reaction to Aryna Sabalenka’s controversial comments after the French Open final

One major talking point after last year’s French Open was Sabalenka’s post-match comments about Gauff. In her press conference, she called it the worst match she’d ever played and blamed conditions for the loss. She even suggested Iga Swiatek wouldn’t have lost under those circumstances.

Tennis legend Tracy Austin criticised Sabalenka for not adapting better while Novak Djokovic took a more balanced view:

In time though there were signs of understanding between Aryna and Coco too with Sabalenka stating: “But I think Coco knew how hard it is sometimes when you lose your cool when you say something you maybe don’t really mean or maybe you’re angry or frustrated.

“And look at if it happens and maybe came out in a wrong way, but she didn’t mean to disrespect Coco and so most of the times I had, you, Grand Slam finals with opponents in the last 20 years, the majority of the times was always quite respectful, both ways when I win or lose with my opponents so.”

Read more:

• Jessica Pegula explains what surprised her about Charleston title defence
• Elina Svitolina climbs into Serena Williams’ ranking territory
• Patrick McEnroe on the biggest gap between men’s and women’s tennis