"Before I used to be really depressed after tough matches": Sabalenka has changed mindset to clay-court defeats

Aryna Sabalenka arrives in Madrid with newfound confidence regarding her tennis after a good run this year and a newfound approach to clay matches.

It's never been her strongest surface because it kind of mitigates everything she does well on a tennis court. She found ways to play well on it and actually won a Madrid trophy in the past however this event plays rather uniquely for a clay court. She revealed before the event that she used get depressed after bad outings on clay but she's now much more relaxed about it:

“I think I’m getting better with accepting that I have lost this. It’s happen, it’s in the past, I will learn this lesson and move on. Before I used to be really depressed after tough matches, but right now I think I’m a little bit older, so I understand that it’s okay, it happens. I just have to accept it and I just have to learn and improve what didn’t work well today and try better next time.”

On clay tennis in general, she said:

“You have to stay patient, you have to wait for a comfortable shot to hit your winner or just go for powerful hitting, you just have to wait for it, and this is the toughest thing on clay. Before, I had a different mentality for the clay court, I thought like, ‘Oh my God, it’s going to be long rallies, no it’s not my favourite surface’. But right now I have a different approach, like I actually have an extra pause to hit my shots, so I’m not under pressure on this surface and I can hit my good shots with the pause, so it gives me extra power actually.”

She also recalled her time winning Madrid - her only clay trophy so far:

“It meant a lot. I proved to myself and I proved to everyone else that I can play on clay courts and I can actually do well on this surface. It was a really important win for me and since then, I’ve really had this strong belief in myself on clay courts.”