Aryna Sabalenka est peut-être la favorite de l'US Open. Gagnante du WTA 1000 de Cincinnati lundi, la Biélorusse a dominé Iga Swiatek, reine de la WTA, et Jessica Pegula, joueuse en forme du mois d'août, sur sa route. 2024 pourrait donc être la bonne année pour la numéro 2 mondiale à l'US Open. Demi-finaliste en 2021 et 2022, puis finaliste en 2023, Sabalenka ne se contentera que du titre cette année. Blessée à l'épaule avant Wimbledon, la native de Minsk a pu se régénérer et retrouver de la fraîcheur pour la tournée américaine. Un mal pour un bien.
Vidéo : @USOpen
Vidéo : @USOpen
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00:00Yeah, I'm super happy with the title, very important, very important one and just super
00:09excited to be back at the US Open, one of my favorite slams.
00:13Mary.
00:14Are you the best hardcourt player in the world?
00:19What a question.
00:20I don't know.
00:21You better ask other players.
00:24I mean, I think I definitely do really well on the hardcourt.
00:27David.
00:28Sabrina, I didn't get a chance to ask you this in Cincinnati, but I saw on your TikTok
00:35you posted the TikTok dance to the Apple challenge.
00:37Yeah.
00:38I'm curious, like, what does Brat Summer mean to you and are you having one right now?
00:47Well, that was a fun video, actually.
00:51And my summer so far is a lot of hard work and a little bit of TikTok.
00:57David.
00:58Hi, Irina, David Law from the Tennis Podcast.
01:04Just thinking back to last year and obviously the disappointment you had of not winning
01:09the title in the end, and you've had some other close ones here as well, do you feel
01:15like you have unfinished business here at the US Open?
01:19Is it something that's in your mind a lot as you try to, I guess, motivate yourself?
01:24It's not like it's in my mind a lot that I kind of, like, have unfinished something here,
01:29but those tough losses definitely motivated me a lot to hard work and to improve things
01:35which didn't work in the previous years.
01:39And every time I'm coming here, I'm really hoping for the best result and I really hope
01:44one day I'll be able to leave this beautiful trophy.
01:48Yeah.
01:50Hi, Irina.
01:51Great to see you.
01:52Before your summer hardcore season started, you were talking about how good it felt to,
01:58of course, be healthy again, and you felt really refreshed.
02:01And I wonder, how do you feel having three events later and playing quite a few matches?
02:06Do you still feel that same sense of freshness?
02:09And, you know, overall, how does it feel?
02:11How is the shoulder and how is everything looking for you?
02:14Yeah.
02:15Yeah.
02:16I mean, it was that little break was much needed.
02:21And the first two tournaments were kind of, like, tricky with the shoulder.
02:25It was, like, first time I faced, like, this kind of, like, fear of getting injured.
02:30But I'm really happy that in Cincinnati things are clicked for me and I trust the hard work
02:39we did and I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to get injured again.
02:44And I still feel hungry and I still feel maybe not fresh, fresh, but definitely, like, ready to go.
02:52And I feel, like, hungrier than I was before the Wimbledon.
02:59Irina, hello.
03:00Russell Fuller from the BBC.
03:02So mentally and physically, since the Australian Open, do you think you're probably feeling at your best now?
03:08I read not just about the shoulder injury at Wimbledon, of course, but the interview you gave to The Guardian
03:13where you said that you probably overplayed and carried on playing in March after the terrible events there.
03:19Well, I definitely think that after this year, mentally I'll become even stronger,
03:27which is, I felt like there is no more gap to get stronger mentally than I am at the moment.
03:33But, yeah, things showed me that, yeah, actually there is a way to improve.
03:38And, yeah, I definitely think, looking back, I definitely think that I should have just stopped
03:43and just kind of, like, yeah, like, separate myself from tennis, just, like, have this little break
03:50and recharge and kind of, like, start things over again.
03:54And I think I kind of, like, overplayed and I carried a lot.
03:57And at the end it just hit me with the injury and also I was sick, I was injured,
04:03I had stomach issue at the French Open, you know, like, health-wise I was struggling a lot.
04:10And, yeah, and that's why I think that this break was much needed.
04:15And not only I'm happy to get injured, but I'm happy that I had this time off
04:22and this kind of, like, time to reset my mind and, yeah, and to get ready for the hard court.
04:29Okay. Darrell Howard, Bill, Willie. Howard.
04:33Hi, Irina. Howard Fendridge with the Associated Press.
04:36There have been a few calls recently during matches that were not reviewable.
04:45Some players wondered, why can't we check it on video?
04:48They do have a system here for that on some courts.
04:52Do you like that? Do you think it should be everywhere?
04:56Do you prefer letting chair umpires figure it out the way they have been?
05:01I mean, I think that's really important that we have this system here because I saw those tough calls
05:08and I think that's really unfair for some of the players, you know,
05:13like, not to be able to review the referee calls.
05:18And also for the referees, you kind of, like, can understand, like, you know,
05:22tennis improved a lot and it's faster.
05:26It's not that easy to be on the chair, be a chair umpire.
05:32So I think that's going to be helpful for everybody and healthy for everyone to have these reviews.
05:39So I think that's really a cool thing to have.
05:42Bill.
05:44Hi, Irina. Bill Simons, Inside Tennis.
05:47You were just talking about sort of all the tough aspects, the injuries and all that in tennis.
05:52But over the years so often, I don't know, we've seen you laughing, joyous, giggling,
05:58rubbing somebody's bald head, you know, just having a lot of fun.
06:02Could you just talk about the joy you feel, the sort of little girl giggles?
06:09I don't know why, but where did that come from and does that help you on the circuit?
06:14I mean, I think my personality came from my father.
06:20I wish he would be still alive. I think we would have so much fun together right now.
06:25But, you know, like this joy came with the experience and with understanding a lot of stuff
06:32because before I was probably too much into tennis and trying to be too focused,
06:38like putting myself under so much pressure.
06:41And lately, I just realized that this is not how things work.
06:45You have to balance this hard work, this expectations, pressure and everything with little joy.
06:52You know, you have to find like things which brings you joy.
06:56And I have my crazy, crazy team and we have so much fun together.
07:02And yeah, and I think that's really important to balance these things.
07:07So just trying to be me off court, you know, like just not to be too serious or too focused.
07:14Did you get into deep trouble with your boyfriend over the success?
07:18Oh, I don't know. It's just like, you know, like first time I came to Air to Russia
07:22and the crowd was like, show us your boyfriends. I'm like, why?
07:28No, he was laughing. He knows that I have only him.
07:34But I don't know what's wrong with this world.
07:36Like for the second time, I'm making this stupid mistake.
07:40Probably I need to work on my English pronunciation.
07:43It's terrible. It's been really terrible lately.
07:48When you watch video of yourself, recent video of yourself as both a player
07:54and also seeing your emotions and your happiness, what does it make you feel?
08:00Which exactly videos? Like me watching myself playing?
08:03When you watch video of the way you're playing and the way you're approaching the game emotionally,
08:09how does it make you feel?
08:11Well, when I see some of my shots, I feel like, wow, how I was able to make that one, you know,
08:16like and the way I'm playing right now, I feel really proud because I know how hard I worked
08:23to improve my game to be able to do all those kind of like tricky shots
08:28and to have this variation in the game.
08:30So it just brings me only like positive emotions.
08:36And also it's like when I see myself like improving some stuff,
08:40it just motivates me and kind of like inspire myself to work hard
08:45and to find some more stuff to improve and to get better.
08:49Of all the times in your career, how would you rate your happiness right now as a player?
08:58I mean, right now I'm somewhere like if we're rating up to 10, then I'm like somewhere like 6, 7.
09:05Last two. Brian and then court. Brian.
09:10A lot of players maybe because of the Olympics didn't have their usual preparation for U.S. Open
09:15like they would have. Is it hard to tell who's outside of you who just won last week?
09:19Is it hard to tell who's ready to win this week?
09:22I mean, I think that everyone who came here, they think that they're ready to win.
09:28And I think it's not about like who's ready.
09:31You know, you can be ready better than the rest of the group.
09:36But at the end of the day, it's all about how hard are you ready to fight for it?
09:42And yeah, how hard are you ready to fight for it,
09:47especially on those days when you don't feel your best?
09:50Last question. Court.
09:52I was waiting if she's going to ask a question or not.
09:54Like it was so weird that she doesn't ask anything.
10:00The title in Cincinnati, not just the title, but also beating Jess, beating Iga.
10:04How much of that did you feel after that tournament was like a weight off of your shoulders
10:10of kind of getting those wins, getting a title since Australian Open?
10:13Or how much of it felt like a lift?
10:17I mean, I definitely felt really, like really good after Cincinnati title.
10:21It was very important for me to get that title and to get those wins.
10:27I think, yeah, I was really happy with the level I played.
10:33And it's not like it's a weight out of my shoulder.
10:40It's just a little happy moment before going to the US Open,
10:46which is also very important to have these good feelings before the big tournaments.