Sabalenka: “I feel like I’m on another planet”

The glamorous photo shoot the day after her biggest triumph was right up her alley by Aryna Sabalenka. In a floral pink dress and blue stiletto heels, the outgoing tennis player posed at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Of course with the silver cup for the Grand Slam tournament victory at the Australian Open.

“I like posing – especially as a Grand Slam champion. It’s the best morning of my life”said Sabalenka, who entered the list of triumphators at the Upper Austria Ladies in Linz in 2020.”I still feel like I’m on another planet”admitted the athlete from Belarus. The fact that her name was engraved on the trophy but not that of her home country next to it hardly diminished Sabalenka’s joy.

Before the hard court tournament in Melbourne, she had said that as a neutral athlete she felt like she was coming “from nowhere”. But after two exhilarating weeks, none of that mattered anymore.”I think everyone remembers that I’m a player from Belarus”she said after the 4: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4 in the high-class final against the Kazakh Wimbledon champion Jelena Rybakina.

Because of the war of aggression in Ukraine, Sabalenka, like all athletes from Russia and her homeland, was only allowed to play under a neutral flag, after she even missed Wimbledon half a year ago because of it. that be “terrible”Sabalenka said at the end of December, “because no one supports the war, no one”.

But the 24-year-old didn’t want to let feelings like satisfaction or even revenge spoil her mood. Sabalenka held the trophy in her arms like a baby. The permanent grin never disappeared from her face. with “good pizza” and “lots of sweets” did she want to reward herself “and maybe with a little champagne”said Sabalenka.

Incidentally, the Czechs won the women’s doubles competition at the Australian Open Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova. The latter will also open in the Linz Design Center from Monday.