"We're not losing, we are learning": Aryna Sabalenka 'still hurting' from Muchova Roland Garros defeat but defiant ahead of Stuttgart

Aryna Sabalenka will return to Stuttgart for the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix which takes place between April 15-21 having reached multiple finals in the tournament including the last two years against Iga Swiatek.

Up first could be her best friend, Paula Badosa who will face Diana Shnaider on Monday night. The Belarusian remains in a defiant mood speaking ahead of Stuttgart. It is her first press duties since the passing of her ex-boyfriend, Konstantin Koltsov. She decided against talking at Miami, but she remains ready to achieve more clay court success this time around.

"It's important for every player to know they're able to play on each surface and don't have this weird feeling going into the specific surface thinking like, Oh, my God, that's not my place, I'm not going to do well here," Sabalenka said at Media Day in Stuttgart. "It was really important for me to have this success, to have this belief."

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After being in a winning position against Karolina Muchova in the semi-finals of last year's Roland Garros, she admits it still hurts as well as recounting what she'd do different. "Still probably hurting," Sabalenka said. "But it's okay. I always say, We're not losing, we are learning. I think that experience was really important for me to learn a lot of stuff. Hopefully this year I can do little bit better. Well, I think if I make it to the same stage of the tournament and I'm going to stay there on 5-2, 30-Love, I'm going to stay there. No [expletive] chance I'm going to do the same. No way I can say it differently."

Aryna Sabalenka heads into Stuttgart with good and bad memories of last year's clay court swing.

But while she harbours some bad memories from that, Stuttgart is a place she loves and also clay is a surface she enjoys. "I really enjoy playing on clay," Sabalenka said. "Preparation starts straight after Miami Open. After I finish the tournament, I have a couple days off and I start preparing for the clay as soon as possible.

"I think Stuttgart is a good place to start the clay season. You're slowly getting into this, kind of like, 'clay mood', I would say, sliding, playing long rallies. I like to play lots of tournaments before the Grand Slam, so I think it's a good one to start with

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