Aryna Sabalenka: ‘i Thought I Had To Just Keep Going … It Damaged My Mental Health’

World No 2 on grief and stress after former partner’s death and her burgeoning rivalry with Iga Swiatek

Now that she has lived it, endured the struggles and fought back to once again hold a winner’s trophy aloft on the eve of the US Open, Aryna Sabalenka is able to reflect on what has been.

The past two months for the woman now the favourite to triumph at the year’s final grand slam tournament were dominated by a debilitating shoulder injury that ruled her out of playing at Wimbledon. The few weeks before that were spent battling illness, first when she was laid low in bed for days before the Italian Open, and then struck by a stomach bug that dashed her French Open hopes.