Courtesy: X
The world number two, Aryna Sabalenka, opened up on her struggles after her ex-boyfriend Konstantin Koltsov died in March of this year. The former ice hockey player for Belarus passed away at the age of 42, and the investigators ruled out any foul play in his death following which she urged everyone to give her some privacy.
Since then, Aryna Sabalenka has been struggling in more ways than one, but still, she is competing well on the WTA tour in recent months. The Belarusian tennis star admitted that even though she and Konstantin Koltsov weren’t together at the time of his death, she was heartbroken.
I lost my father and tennis helped me: Aryna Sabalenka
The 26-year-old lost her father Sergey in 2019 who helped got into the world of professional tennis. Aryna Sabalenka recalled how even after her father’s death, she decided to keep playing and how it helped her during that phase.
“Once, I lost my father and tennis helped me to go through that tough loss. So at that moment [of Koltsov’s death] I thought I had to just keep going, keep playing, keep doing my thing to separate my personal life from my career life, ” said Aryna Sabalenka.
However, she admitted about her struggles health wise in the aftermath of her former boyfriend's death as she decided to keep going. The Belarus player added that it would have been better had she decided to take a break.
The Australian Open 2024 winner said, “But at the end I would say I was struggling a lot healthwise because I didn’t stop. It was really emotional and really stressful, and kind of damaged my mental health at that point. Probably, looking back right now, I would say that a better decision would have been to step back, reset and recharge, and start everything over again. But I did what I did. At the end I paid for my decision, but I’m really glad that I have tennis in my life and it’s really helped me go through whatever and get stronger.”
Her current boyfriend and Oakberry Acai brand founder Georgios Frangulis has been a support system for her. The former even thanked him after winning the Cincinnati Open this week.
