Aryna Sabalenka, the two-time Australian Open champion, has adopted a philosophy of forgetting her losses and focusing on the present. She believes that every tournament is a new opportunity to improve and that a short memory helps her stay motivated and work hard.
Sabalenka, who has reached the semifinals of the Cincinnati Masters three times, is hoping to improve her record at the tournament this year. She is coming back from a shoulder injury that forced her to skip Wimbledon.
“Every loss is extra motivation to work hard and improve things,” Sabalenka said. “If you’re fighting every point and giving all you have in practice and matches, you’ll have your opportunities. You just have to use them.”
Sabalenka’s tennis provides a welcome contrast to her personal life, which has been marked by tragedy. She lost her father and a former boyfriend in recent years.
“I’m trying to figure out what I need to do to get to the finals,” Sabalenka said. “But I don’t want to focus on that. I want to take things step by step and try to bring my best tennis every time I’m on the court.”
In other women’s action, Daria Kastkina, Marta Kostyuk, Karolina Pliskova, Varvara Gracheva, and Lulu Sun all advanced to the second round.
In men’s play, Ben Shelton defeated Reilly Opelka in a battle of serves. Shelton said he trained for the match by facing big serves from his father, former ATP player Bryan Shelton.
“It’s hard to replicate the angle of Reilly’s serve and how high it bounces,” Shelton said. “I’ve never seen a ball (from Opelka) come at me like that. Some of the serves he hits defy physics.”
Alex Michelsen, Zhang Zhizhen, and Frances Tiafoe also advanced to the second round.
