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January 19, 2022,
Is Aryna Sabalenka a household name?
It probably depends upon what country your 2.5 bath home is located in.
If you cut your grass and have back yard barbeques in Minsk, Belarus, then the answer is yes.
Now if you are asking yourself what sport are we speaking of, then you just might be a very casual tennis fan. Someone who only watches the finals of Grand Slams on TV.
Yes, the name could be that of a sensational runway model, a James Bond love interest, a top ranked women’s freestyle wrestler or, in all fairness, we wouldn’t blink if it was attached to a rising UFC fighter.
We knew it was associated with tennis and we have extensively heard of her.
Unfortunately, at this moment in time, we appear to be hearing about her for all of the wrong reasons, on the court.
That is actually a fairly good thing. Why? Because whatever is ailing her could be worked on and solved by her team.
Off the court would be another matter.
The global sports and news leader ESPN reported, “World No.2-ranked Aryna Sabalenka has lost another first-round match at an Australian Open tune-up tournament to a much lower-ranked opponent.
Sabalenka lost 5-7, 6-1, 7-5 to Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson, who came into the match at the Adelaide International ranked No. 395.”
Previously Aryna lost in the first round of the first Adelaide International tournament, 7-6 (6), 6-1 to Kaja Juvan, who is ranked 100th.
You’ve heard of Kaja, right?
Is it cause for concern?
It depends.
Is the concern fixable?
We say yes. Why?
It is primarily her serve that is letting her down and for any of us who have played tennis at a fairly high amateur level, and we honestly have, that is a solvable problem.
Get a large bucket of balls and work on your technique and motion. Give the rest of your game and body a rest. Sometimes after playing extensively, it is a good idea to work on just one part of your game that doesn’t involve running and striking.
Aryna has been described as a 2022 Australian Open contender.
That comes across as very premature. We don’t see her that way and we hope we’re wrong but to say that she is currently struggling, define struggling.
Getting knocked out in the first round of two of the preliminary tournaments in Australia can be defined as struggling.
Then there is this.
As reported by ABC Network, “In her most recent match — in Adelaide against world number 93 Rebecca Peterson — a series of worrying signs came to the fore.
In the first set, Sabalenka sent down 11 double faults, and in the second another seven. By the third set, she had resorted to sending down underarm forehands, just to get the ball in play.”
We truly sense that is temporary but the combination of losing to two players on the other side of 90, in two lead up tournaments, is not a great sign.
If there is anyone who can right the ship, it is Aryna.
How many times has she sailed through storms and made it to port?
Ms. Sabalenka is currently ranked number two in the world. You knew that, right?
We sure didn’t and we pride ourselves on following women’s professional tennis fairly closely.
Time for a closer look to see how she rose there at the tender age of 23.
Aryna is a Belarusian professional tennis player.
Okay, we know what you are thinking and we are thinking it too.
Tell us five things about Belarus, in one hour, without researching it online. You can ask your neighbors as long as you or they don’t live in Europe.
Okay, so we knew it was in Europe. That’s one out of five without looking it up online.
It is probably somewhere near Russia. Haven’t looked it up yet, but we’re going to go with that.
It probably gets really cold in the winter.
See, this in not as hard as you thought. Shall we keep going?
There are not any NFL, NBA or Major League Baseball teams located there. We’re going to go out on a limb and say there is a hockey team that plays there.
One more.
They eat a lot of meat. The population is not primarily made up of vegetarians, say like California, Oregon and Washington State.
How did we do? How did you do?
Time for some online research.
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, and historically Byelorussia, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe.
Ah, there is the word Russia in the name.
It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest.
With a population of 9.3 million people, most not named Sabalenka, Belarus is the thirteenth-largest and the twentieth-most populous country in Europe.
Minsk is the capital and largest city.
How did you do on your quiz?
Now, for possibly the more challenging part.
Name five things about Aryna Sabalenka in one hour without looking it up. Seriously. Again, she is the number two player in the world.
Shall we help?
She’s number two in the world.
She’s currently having trouble with her serve.
She’s currently ranked ahead of Sloane Stephens, Sofia Kenin, Coco Gauff, Serena Williams and Eugenie Buchard (went out on a limb on the last one).
Blank wall. Give us minute.
Now before looking it up, has she won a Grand Slam? Tough question. We are stumped. We’re not even going to ask you which one.
We’re going to say yes, and we truly are guessing. So that’s four. What say you? Has she won a Slam yet?
One more.
She is statuesque and beautiful with long hair. We’re confident in that one since we have seen her. It’s a James Bond thing.
Now for the research. Let’s test ourselves on how you and our team did.
Drum roll please.
We got 4 out of five.
She has not won a Grand Slam yet.
Her highest finish was in the third round of the 2020 and 2021 French Open. That’s on clay, so let’s keep going. The fourth round of the 2021 Australian Open.
It gets better.
The semi-finals of the 2021 US Open and Wimbledon.
She has won 10 WTA Singles titles.
Hence the high ranking. Her greatest achievements are in 2021. So she is ascending.
How is she doing so far at the 2022 Aussie Open?
Her first round matchup would be against an Australian crowd favorite in their countrywoman Storm Sanders, a wild card.
As reported by tennis.com, “Disastrous serving yips derailed her preparation and threatened to send her tumbling out of the Australian Open in the first round before the resilient Belarusian powered on in time to survive Sanders, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.”
It appears that we did get another thing right and we said it right from the beginning. Before we did any research. Do you remember the question? Here it is, “How many times has she sailed through storms and made it to port?”
Aryna Salalenka has just sailed through a first round storm and made it to port. How?
It doesn’t matter as long as she gets there.
Keep watching her this tournament.
She just might prove us right on the Grand Slam title.
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OPENING PHOTO fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com fcielitecompetitor.com fciwomenswrestling2.com grapplingstars.com article Andrew Makedonski Shutterstock photo credit Editorial use
FINAL PHOTO Sydney, Australia – 8 January 2018: Aryna Sabalenka in a round one match against Petra Kvitova, Sydney Olympic Park. (Photo by Rob Keating/robiciatennis.com)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryna_Sabalenka
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarus
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