Aryna Sabalenka has revealed she treats every loss as “extra motivation” as she looks to rediscover her best form at the Cincinnati Open this week.
Sabalenka had a strong start to the season, successfully defending her Australian Open title before reaching back-to-back finals on the clay in Madrid and Rome.
However, her season has recently been disrupted by a significant shoulder injury.
The world No 3 was forced to pull out of Wimbledon – where she was a favourite for the title – and she looked far from her best in Washington and Toronto.
Sabalenka has never reached the final in Cincinnati, with three semi-final defeats on her record.
And, as she looks to break new ground at the tournament, she hopes she can put what she’s learnt from recent losses into practice.
“Every week is a new tournament – it’s good to have a short memory,” said Sabalenka.
“That helps to keep things moving and working hard and improving. Every loss is extra motivation to work hard and improve things, just to keep going.
“If you’re fighting every point and giving all you have in practice and matches you’ll have your opportunities. You just have to use them.
“I’m trying to figure out what I need to do to get to the finals, but I don’t want to focus on that.
“I want to take things step by step and try to bring my best tennis every time I’m on the court. If I do that, then I will be able to get that semi-final win.”
Cincinnati will be Sabalenka’s third hard-court tournament of the summer, with the former world No 1 choosing to skip the Olympic Games in Paris due to fitness concerns.
The Belarusian began her summer in Washington as the top seed, battling her way to the semi-final before a surprise loss to Marie Bouzkova.
Sabalenka was the second seed at the Canadian Open the following week but suffered a heavy 6-4, 6-2 defeat to eventual finalist Amanda Anisimova, slumping to 2-5 in her head-to-head against the American.
She will start her Cincinnati campaign later today against Elisabetta Cocciaretto, and will look to find her best form at a tournament she has had strong results in the past.
Sabalenka made a breakthrough run at the tournament back in 2018, progressing to the last four before a loss to then-world No 1 Simona Halep.
She then reached the semi-finals again in 2022 where she was beaten by eventual winner Caroline Garcia, before a loss at that stage to Karolina Muchova twelve months ago.
