Months after the death of world No. 2 tennis player Aryna Sabalenka’s ex-boyfriend, the Belarusian tennis star has opened up about the death and how she didn’t give herself enough time to process what happened.
Sabalenka made the revelation in an interview with The Guardian published on Wednesday ahead of next week’s US Open.
Former NHL player Konstantin Koltsov fell from the balcony of a five-star hotel in Miami and died in March.
At the time, it was reported that the two were together, but Sabalenka clarified that they were not, although her heart was “broken.”
It was one of the only statements she made immediately after the tragedy, aside from a message to her fans thanking them for their support.
Today, five months later, she admits she would have handled things differently if she could.
In the same way she dealt with the death of her father in 2019, Sabalenka has thrown herself back into tennis.
Sabalenka was spotted training the day after Koltsov’s death ahead of the Miami Open.
“I lost my father and tennis helped me get through that,” she said. “At that point (after Koltsov’s death), I thought I had to keep going, keep playing, keep doing my thing to separate my personal life from my professional life.
“But in the end, I would say I had a really hard time feeling healthy because I didn’t stop. It was very emotional and very stressful, and it kind of damaged my mental health at that point.”
the Islanders on April 15, 2006 at Nassau Coliseum. Getty Images
Sabalenka added that she thought the “best decision” would have been to take a step back and “recharge.”
“Starting all over again,” she added. “But I did what I did. In the end, I paid for my decision, but I’m really happy to have tennis in my life and it really helped me overcome all the challenges and become stronger.”
The 26-year-old has been forced away from the game in recent months due to a shoulder injury that kept her out of Wimbledon and illnesses that kept her out of the French Open and the Italian Open.
“I only realized after I got injured and had to take a step back that it was actually something that was very necessary,” Sabalenka told the outlet.
“In the end I realized that it was really necessary. Now I feel much better physically and mentally and much stronger,” she added.
Sabalenka is coming off a win at the Cincinnati Open and heads into the US Open in a strong position.
