Aryna Sabalenka says 'no' to Olympics, 'yes' to health

World number three Aryna Sabalenka has revealed the reason behind skipping the Paris Olympics. The mega-event will be held from July 26 to August 11 in the capital city of France. Sabalenka is already regarded as one of the best women's tennis players currently playing in the singles category, along with Poland’s Iga Swiatek.

The 26-year-old became the most high-profile player recently to announce that she will not take part in the mega-event scheduled for the summer. The development was a surprise as Sabalenka would have been one of the candidates to win a gold medal for her country.

The Minsk-born star was recently quoted in a report in which she revealed her reason for skipping the competition. Sabalenka stated that one primary reason is that she has been through a lot recently and that she believes that having a break is a step in the right direction.

"Especially with all the struggles I've been struggling with the last months, I feel I have to take care of my health," she said. "It's too much for the scheduling, and I made the decision to take care of my health. I prefer to have a little rest to make sure physically and health-wise I'm ready for the hard courts. I'll have a good preparation before going to the hard court season. I feel that this is safer and better for my body."

Sabalenka has gone through a difficult season in 2024, both on-court and off-court. She started brilliantly and lifted the Australian Open for the second time after beating China’s Zheng Qinwen in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-2.

Since then, however, the Minsk-born has not been able to win any event. She qualified for the final of two events — the Madrid Open and the Rome Open — and on both occasions, she lost to the current world number one, Iga Swiatek.

Her most recent appearance was at the French Open, where she lost in the quarterfinal to Russia’s Mirra Andreeva by scores of 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. Off-the-court, Sabalenka was in the news for the wrong reasons, as her ex-boyfriend committed suicide.