Aryna Sabalenka admits she even contemplated quitting tennis during her major serving struggles but is happy to have continued because that ended up being "the turning point" in her career.
Leading up to the 2022 Australian Open, Sabalenka picked up back-to-back opening-round losses in two Adelaide tournaments. And the biggest reason why the Belarusian started the year so poorly was her excessive double faults. While she reached the Australian Open round-of-16 that year, her serving woes followed her to Melbourne Park.
In the end, Sabalenka finished the 2022 season with 428 double faults - 151 more than any other WTA player.
In 2022, a desperate Sabalenka turned to biomechanics expert Gavin MacMillan to help her fix her serve. It has done wonders for the Belarusian, who has since won four Grand Slams and reached the world No. 1 ranking.
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Sabalenka recalls her serving woes: Thought maybe that's a sign that I should quit
"I couldn't put one serve in. I was double-faulting 40 times. And I was like, maybe that's a sign that I have to quit. Because I was pushing, trying. We've done everything to fix my serve and nothing would work," the world No. 1 said, viaAFP,in Hong Kong ahead of thePrudential NextGen Aces, where she will be joined by Andre Agassi.
"But, you know, I really believe -- because I faced in different parts of life similar things -- that when you're getting close to that moment where you're about to give up, I really believe that this is the moment when you can turn around things. You just have to push. You just have to keep trying. And this is the moment when it's a turning moment."
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For Sabalenka, her serving issues weren't only technical, but also mental. And after MacMillan gave her the solution for her serving issues, the Belarusian's career turned around completely and she is now guaranteed to finish her career with her top goals accomplished.
