Sabalenka reached the ultimate at Flushing Meadows final 12 months, dropping to Coco Gauff in three units.
She began the 12 months in spectacular kind, defending her Australian Open title with out dropping a set and taking simply 76 minutes to beat Zheng Qinwen within the ultimate.
She has typically been seen joking along with her teaching crew and started a pre-match custom of writing her signature on her health coach Jason Stacy’s head in Melbourne.
Sabalenka stated her persona comes from her father, Sergey, a former ice hockey participant who died in 2019 and who she counts as her largest motivation.
“I want he could be nonetheless alive. I believe we’d have a lot enjoyable collectively proper now,” she stated.
“Earlier than, I used to be most likely an excessive amount of into tennis and making an attempt to be too centered, placing myself beneath a lot strain.
“Currently, I simply realised that this isn’t how issues work. You must stability this tough work, these expectations, strain, and every thing, with [a] little pleasure.
“You must discover issues which deliver you pleasure, and I’ve my loopy crew and we’ve got a lot enjoyable collectively.”
The US Open begins on Monday, with heavy title favorite Sabalenka opening her marketing campaign towards qualifier Priscilla Hon.
