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Sabalenka hoping to learn lessons from French Open outburst / Photo: © AFP
Sabalenka hoping to learn lessons from French Open outburst
World number one Aryna Sabalenka is hoping an outburst after her French Open final defeat to Coco Gauff will prove a turning point in maintaining her emotional control in the biggest matches.
The three-time Grand Slam champion threw away a one-set lead to lose to the American in Paris earlier this month.
Afterwards, Sabalenka described her performance as the "the worst final I've ever played".
The Belarusian later apologised to Gauff for her comments and the pair put their differences aside by performing a dance together on the Wimbledon lawns for social media.
"I was just completely, like, upset with myself, and emotions got over me. I just completely lost it," said Sabalenka at a pre-Wimbledon press conference on Saturday.
"I believe I get overemotional at the last stages of the tournaments because I have this desire of winning.
"Sometimes it (gets the better of) me and I can lose control over my emotions. So I would love to improve that at the last stages of the tournament.
"But honestly I'm kind of glad what happened to me at Paris because I was able to learn a lot. I was able to sit back and being open to myself, not just to ignore some things. I think I realised a lot of things about myself in those last stages of the tournaments."
Sabalenka's comments after the French Open were fiercely criticised in the United States for taking the shine off Gauff's second Grand Slam title.
"Of course, she got my respect. She knows it," added Sabalenka.
"I'm happy that she was, like, 'yeah, it's all good, don't worry'. As you saw the (dancing) video, I was talking, we are good, we are friends. I hope the US media can be easy on me right now."
Sabalenka has never gone beyond the semi-finals on the Wimbledon grass and begins her quest for glory against Canadian qualifier Carson Branstine, a player she admitted to having limited knowledge of.
"The other day I opened social media, and she was giving (an) interview. I think she just qualified. I was like, 'Oh my God, this girl is so beautiful!'
"Then I opened the draw, and I see I'm playing the Canadian girl. I open her profile, and I'm like, 'Oh, this is the beautiful girl'. That's all I know so far."
A.Evans--SFF
