Aryna Sabalenka spoke about her team after reaching 1st US Open Final: “They’re fired. They’re not my team anymore.” 😂
(VIDEO) "They are fired": Sabalenka jokingly berates team after tough US Open semi-final win
Tennis NewsFriday, 08 September 2023 at 16:14
Aryna Sabalenka has joked about firing her team and blaming her difficult US Open semi-final on them after she had to fight back hard to win her match against Madison Keys.
Second seed Sabalenka had been having a successful run at the last Grand Slam of the year in New York. Prior to the semi-finals, she had not dropped a set against the likes of Daria Kasatkina and Qinwen Zheng.
However, while her success has continued, her semi-final match against seventeenth-seed Keys was tougher than anything she had yet faced at Flushing Meadows this year. The Belarusian lost the first set 0-6, and with the crowd firmly behind her American opponent, it looked as though all was lost.
Sabalenka takes out frustration on team
Despite the rough start, the 25-year-old fought back and scraped through to the final by the skin of her teeth, winning the second set and the decider on tiebreaks.
During the match, Sabalenka could be seen expressing her frustration to her team, exchanging heated words and even trying to throw a racquet at them.
However, once the heat of the moment had passed, Sabalenka revealed that this was what she and her team had agreed on as a way for her to manage her emotions.
"I mean, we spoke a lot after those tough semifinals and we spoke that if I need to throw those emotions, I have to do it. Otherwise, I'll just, I don't know eat myself from the inside. So that's why I was just like yelling, screaming, swearing to them," she explained during her on-court interview.
Prior to this explanation, the soon-to-be World No. 1 joked that her team were all 'fired' and were to blame for the match being a close call.
"They fired, they're not my team anymore. It's all their fault," she joked while she and her team both laughed.
"I mean I think they know that I still love them," she added.
Sabalenka will face sixth seed Coco Gauff in the final of the US Open.
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