Aryna Sabalenka reveals she reached out to Novak Djokovic after losing back-to-back Grand Slam finals at the start of the year as she wanted to hear from the record 24-time Slam champion how he was mentally approaching the biggest of the biggest matches.
After winning back-to-back Australian Open titles in 2023 and 2024, Sabalenka appeared to be destined for a three-peat after reaching her third consecutive final at Melbourne Park. But then, the three-peat just unexpectedly slipped away from the world No. 1 after she lost a very tight three-set final to Madison Keys.
A few months later, Sabalenka bounced back by making her first French Open final. While she made a positive start and went up early against Coco Gauff, the Belarusian failed to close out the match as the American came back to win 6-7 (5) 6-2 6-4.
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Following her Australian Open final, the 27-year-old angrily smashed her racket and cried. After the French Open final loss, she also became very emotional and cried.
Then, Sabalenka turned to Djokovic for advice and won the final Grand Slam of the year.
Sabalenka: I spoke to Djokovic - I remembered it - and it helped me win the US Open
"At Wimbledon I spoke to Novak. I just wanted to know how he was preparing himself for those big matches -- what was the focus and what was his mindset going into the match. So we talked for an hour probably, but with Novak you always can spend more than that talking and asking for advice. And then later on, going to the US Open final, I remembered what he said, what he told me, and I think it helped me to get the title," the top-ranked WTA player revealed at an event in Hong Kong.
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Sabalenka didn't hide that she absolutely didn't want to finish the 2025 season without a Grand Slam title. She is now set to enter 2026 with four Majors under her belt.
