Sabalenka confesses the biggest lesson she learned this year

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The Media Day kicked off at the WTA Finals 2025, with the eight season masters sharing their impressions before this final tournament of the calendar begins. Aryna Sabalenka, as expected, exuded happiness after a great performance.

Even though it could have been much more if she had won the finals of the Australian Open and Roland Garros, those setbacks turned into lessons that made Aryna Sabalenka multiply her potential at the US Open, where no one could stop her towards a new Grand Slam. With the peace of facing a new calendar from the top of the rankings, the tennis player from Minsk went through Media Day in Riyadh to analyze the court conditions of the WTA Finals and revisit the key turning points to reach this moment of confidence.

Number one from start to finish

“Finishing the season as World No.1 means a lot; it reflects how consistent I am as a player, which is crazy to think about. If you go back five years, for example, and someone told me that I would end up being such a consistent player, I would really be surprised. It's the best proof that hard work pays off, so I hope to keep doing as well as I am doing now.”

Key losses in 2025

“It was a difficult and tough moment; it was indeed a lesson for me. In the end, I think they were necessary lessons; I had to learn to control myself even more. Despite improving a lot in aspects of the game, I still wasn't good enough. I think in those finals, I was missing something, and it was the management of my emotions. After Roland Garros and all the media noise, I had to sit down and look at everything from a different perspective, take control of my emotions. After winning the US Open, I felt very grateful for those lessons.”

Recovering after a painful defeat

“There is no victory that doesn't come after a tough defeat; that's where the balance lies. It's all about how you recover from those defeats, what lessons you learn, how open you are to improve and learn new things. Looking back at this season, I am super proud because I experienced very difficult times at the beginning, but I never stopped working hard, never stopped giving my best effort. With my team, I always talked about what I needed to improve, so it was an incredible season. I am happy for those big finals, those great battles; they forced me to learn something new to come back stronger.”

Sabalenka explains the conditions in Riyadh

“It is easier to adapt to the indoor conditions because there is no heat, no wind. There really aren't many factors that can disrupt your game. The bounce here is quite high; I think the topspin and the serve kick will work very well this week; it's all about attitude. Since there is no wind and it's just clean, it's pretty good to hit here. In my case, I try to adjust the string tension of my rackets because the ball flies like crazy. You have to be smart and find that balance between technique and tactics; one may weigh more than the other in each match.”

Australia and Paris, Aryna's two biggest lessons this year

“Obviously, I made some tactical errors, mostly in fact. If you know me well, there was also a terrible emotional management; hence all the unforced errors I made. The main lesson I learned is that, no matter what happens, no matter how I feel or how frustrated I am inside, I still have to keep calm and try to think clearly, focus on the game plan to fight for the match. Regardless of what happens, you have to stay in control. If we look at my first two finals, it's evident that shouting and throwing the ball didn't help me win; that's when you need to let go of emotions, losing control will never help. That was my main lesson, keeping control. Later, this helped me win the US Open; I remembered those two matches a lot, there was no way I would let it happen again.”

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Sabalenka confiesa la mayor lección que aprendió este año