Sabalenka reflects on the death of her ex-partner: "I'm really happy to have tennis in my life"

Last March, while preparing for the WTA 1000 in Miami, Aryna Sabalenka faced the brutal death of her ex-boyfriend, Konstantin Koltsov.

Logically traumatized, the Belarusian nevertheless decided to continue playing tennis in order to move on quickly.

Interviewed by our Guardian colleagues, she returned to the subject, explaining that this was not necessarily the right solution: "At the time, I thought I had to keep moving forward, keep playing, keep doing my thing to separate my personal life from my professional life.

But in the end, I'd say I fought a lot for my health because I didn't stop. It was very emotional and very stressful, and my mental health took a hit at that point.

Looking back, I'd say a better decision would have been to take a step back, to recharge my batteries. But I did what I did.

In the end, I paid for my decision, but I'm really happy to have tennis in my life and it's really helped me get through things and become stronger."