Belarusian Sabalenka defies all difficulties: “They thought I was stupid, useless and shit”

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In a remarkable interview with the French sports bible “L’Équipe”, the charismatic Aryna Sabalenka (25) takes a deep dive into the matter. As a child she had a hard time with it. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, she showed it to everyone on the tennis court and wants to continue to do so.

The Belarusian won the Australian Open this year, was in the semifinals of the French Open and wants to dethrone Iga Switek at Wimbledon (3 to 16 July). A great goal that repeatedly stands in the way of the war in Ukraine.

“People Are Uniting Against Me”

Because the political determines their sporting career. Last year she was banned from Wimbledon, like all Russian athletes and those from Belarus, because both countries are considered warmongers in Ukraine. Sabalenka has gotten used to Ukrainian players like Marta Kostyuk and Elina Svitolina not shaking hands after the match. But it hurts her, Sabalenka frankly admits, as does the whole issue of war.

Looking back at 2022, she says: “Yes, the war led to other problems. I got a little paranoid: people unite against me because I’m from Belarus. People need to understand something: we don’t support war. So what do you expect from us? That we shout ‘no war, no war’? Of course we don’t support him.” It took her a long time to realize that she hadn’t done anything wrong “and most of all that I can’t give people, especially Ukrainians, what they hope from me. If we could end the war, we would end it.”

“Coaches Said I Was Shit”

Sabalenka now seems to have recovered. It could have something to do with her childhood. In Minsk, where she grew up, no one believed in her. That she could become a world-class tennis player? Impossible. “They told me I was stupid, good for nothing. Coaches told me, you’re shit.”

But even then she didn’t care what others might say. “I just went my own way. I don’t understand why I didn’t listen to her. There must be something in me, in my blood, in my personality. I always fought for myself. I was strong enough to handle anything and it’s crazy when I think about it.”

Clear statement against the war

In the future, Sabalenka will be perceived not only as a tennis player. That is her fate as a Belarusian. She is repeatedly faced with questions about a public appearance with ultra-authoritarian Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko in 2020. She is repeatedly urged to take a clear political stance. Again and again it is put in the war drawer.

At the French Open, that has become too colorful for her lately. She declined two press appointments because she was “appalled” that the media wanted to “put words in her mouth”. Stepping behind the microphones, she made her position clearer than ever: “I don’t want my country to get involved in a war. I am against this war and therefore against Lukashenko.”

Source : Blick