- Aryna Sabalenka has not only lost a record number of matches in Madrid. She was also on the field for the longest period of her career. However, it can’t be said that it came close to the crazy ending with Eija exhausting your heals. It was quite the opposite
- We have seen the best version of the Belarusian star and the Pole should be appreciated even more for his ability to defeat her. There was no sign of Sabalenka, who was clearly in crisis. After the former partner Konstantin Koltsov sadly passed away
- Do you know the name Jason Stacy? The WTA runner-up puts ritual signatures on his head and tries to recognize you. The American works from the shadows. She did it so effectively that Sabalenka looked as if she could run a marathon after the final against Świętek.
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A few weeks ago, the Belarusian tennis player was in a big hole. Winning the Australian Open seemed like a distant memory. She finished the next three WTA 1000 tournaments at a stage where a player of her class should only be just starting out – before the quarterfinals. To this was added a huge private tragedy. On March 18, Sabalenka’s long-time partner Konstantin Koltsov committed suicide.
In life sometimes you have to go through shit
Her coach, Anton Dobro, said in an interview with the newspaper “L’Equipe” on Saturday in Madrid: “It was not easy. She went through the most difficult thing in her life.” “You can’t separate it from tennis, but at the same time, tennis acts like a medicine here. When you go on the court and you know what to do, even if you’re frustrated or angry or sad, you feel a sense of healing. Being in movement is 100 healing for Arina.” percent.
Sabalenka’s physical preparation coach, Jason Stacey, is less diplomatic and presents the last weeks more clearly: “In life, sometimes you have to go through a bad phase. Not around, because that won’t change anything.”
Continued article below the video
14 hours in the stadium – Sabalenka Marathon
No other tennis player had such a tournament and such a difficult path to the final as the Belarusian in Madrid. Three sets with Magda Lynette, three with Robin Montgomery, three with Danielle Collins, who is unbeaten in 15 matches, three with the excellent Jelena Rybakina and three with Iga Švetek. She played only one match in Madrid, against Mira Andreeva, in a shorter period. But marathons didn’t bother her, quite the opposite. She grew bigger with each rally, hitting her powerful forehand with more force. Experts noted that she lost some weight, which allowed her to play longer matches.
Almost 14 hours – that’s how long Sabalenka spent at the Madrid Stadium, which is the record for her career. The Opta Ace chart was published as the tennis player broke the magic 12-hour barrier, the record of her career. She then wrapped it for over an hour and a half.
On her way to the deciding match against Iga Świątek, she also conceded as many as 60 games to her opponents, historically the most by any finalist in this tournament. In the semi-finals, she lost to Yelena Rybakina 1:6, 2:4, and perhaps she was the only one who thought that the fate of this match could be reversed. She and her team.
“It may be hard to believe, but I really enjoyed these three-set matches,” the Belarusian said after the final. “I felt like I was getting back into rhythm, and I was getting stronger with every ball.”
The amazing story of Jason Stacy
Behind Sabalenka’s astonishing transformation – as in tennis – is a whole team of people, but one of these people is worth paying special attention to. This is Jason Stacey, the 50-year-old fitness trainer whose bald fans should remember him from the Australian Open. In Melbourne, an American and a Belarusian woman were united through a ritual. Before each match, Arena signed an autograph on her coach’s bald head. “Everyone knows her name, but maybe this way they’ll remember mine too,” Stacy laughed.
We must remember, because Stacy is an extraordinary person, just like his life story. The American had a very difficult childhood. He became homeless when he was 13 and lived on the streets until he was 16. What saved him was the mixed martial arts he started practicing. He became a coach and worked with poor and terminally ill children. In 2017, he received a phone call from one of his students, a Belarusian: “We have a talented tennis player here, Sabalenka. Can you help us?”
“I saw a big, strict girl.”
They collaborated via email for a year, and Stacey finally received an invitation to visit Belarus. “I saw a big, tough girl whose coaches said, ‘You’re big, so hit hard.’ That was all her physical preparation,” he recalled of the first meeting on the “Funcional Tennis” podcast.
He does not hide that it took several months to gain Sabalenka’s trust. “She’s a typical Eastern Bloc person. She doesn’t trust people, she hides behind a very narrow wall. You have to really earn her trust in you. Obviously I deserved it, because in 2020 her approach completely changed. I understood Stacey revealed many things , starting from the fact that he needs not only strength, but also dynamics, to his breathing mechanisms, which are perhaps the best in the world.
The greatest artists steal
He brought a lot of elements from other disciplines into Sabalenka’s training, because, he says: “Picasso said that good artists borrow, and the greatest artists steal. You have to take the best.” So there are dance techniques, gymnastics and jiu-jitsu. “We once trained elements of this martial art in the stadiums. A week later I saw two other players training in the same way. Did I already tell you that all great players steal?” -Stacy laughs.
What Sabalenka and Svetek have in common is their great emphasis on overall physical preparation. At the Iga camp, Maciej Ryszczuk has been in charge of them for years. Maybe that’s why they both finished the final in Madrid in excellent condition. In the end, the Pole served at a speed of 190 km per hour, which was very rare for it before. There were plenty of exciting events throughout the match, one of which is below.
Iga Švetek: “I tried to be brave like Arina”
“It was the most exciting and crazy final I have ever played in,” Iga said in a press conference. “I felt like Arina was playing very aggressively and that her decisions were very brave. So I also tried to be brave in the end.”
This match – considered by many to be the best of the season – is an excellent prediction ahead of the biggest moments of the season. One moment, there will be a tournament in Rome, but then it will be the ultimate tennis tournament: Roland Garros, Wimbledon, the Olympics in Paris. “A Polish woman won on Saturday in Madrid, but this rivalry and its potential are the future of women’s tennis. The era of Swiatek vs. Spalinka has begun!” – wrote famous journalist Steve Tignor from Tennis.com.
source:Onet Sports Review
Date of creation: Fifth House 2024 14:13
Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Przegląd Sportowy Onet magazine
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