What better way to start your reign with a bang than to walk away with a crown? Aryna Sabalenka has not yet lifted the US Open trophy, qualified at this stage for the semi-finals of the last Grand Slam tournament of the season, where she faces Thursday, September 7, in the night, the American Madison Keys in front of his audience.
But the Belarusian is aware that winning on Saturday, at the end of the New York fortnight, would confirm her coronation as the new queen of the world circuit. Thanks to the defeat in the round of 16 of the Polish Iga Swiatek, title holder, Sabalenka is mathematically guaranteed to become Monday (when the next WTA ranking), the 29e player in history to occupy the chair of world number 1.
” To be honest (…)I didn’t want to become number 1 like that, I would have preferred a battle [si elles s’étaient retrouvées en finale, les deux joueuses auraient joué la place de numéro 1 en plus du titre] », she reacted after her quarter-final. Without being choosy: “It means a lot to me, I’ve done so much [d’efforts] this year to get there. A few years ago, I started thinking that I could reach this rank, but I wasn’t mentally ready. To be number 1, you have to be consistent in tournaments. »
Caught up by her links with Lukashenko
Forgotten her 428 double faults in 55 matches in 2022, the big hitter (1.82 m) is today rewarded for her consistency since the start of the season. Last member of the world Top 5 in the final four at Flushing Meadows, the 25-year-old player is also the only one to have already experienced the exhilaration of the tennis peaks with a title at the Australian Open at the end of January. Under a neutral banner, and therefore without a Belarusian flag or anthem, in the context of the war in Ukraine, she won the WTA 1000 in Madrid, then reached the semi-finals at Roland-Garros and then at Wimbledon.
A season in the shape of the (Belarus) Russian mountains for the native of Minsk, who found herself caught up in the controversy on the geopolitical field, at Roland-Garros. With the agreement of the organizers, Sabalenka had “skipped” two post-match press conferences, tired of being questioned about her position – then ambiguous – on the war in Ukraine or her links with the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, close ally of Vladimir Putin.
On December 31, 2020, after a year marked by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations in Belarus, Sabalenka celebrated the New Year in Minsk with the autocrat, in the company of other personalities supporting the regime. “Obviously, it’s good to be born in a country where the president supports sport like no one else and is ready to help in difficult times,” she said, in 2019, in an interview with the independent media Tut.by – closed since the 2020 protests against power.
At the Porte d’Auteuil, Aryna Sabalenka had finally clarified her position. At the question “You said you don’t support the war. But do you still support Alexander Lukashenko? “, the world number 2 replied: “That’s a tough question… I don’t support war, so I don’t support Lukashenko right now. »
The Belarusian president did not fail to congratulate his compatriot on his coronation in Melbourne at the end of January. Will he do the same in the event of another victory on Saturday?