{"id":589495,"date":"2026-04-17T09:31:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/589495\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T09:31:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:31:18","slug":"aryna-sabalenka-already-planning-switch-to-new-sport-as-world-no-1-opens-up-tennis-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/589495\/","title":{"rendered":"Aryna Sabalenka already planning switch to new sport as world No. 1 opens up | Tennis | Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> is only 27 years old, but she already knows what she wants to do when she retires from professional tennis. The Belarusian has spent 86 weeks and counting at No. 1 in the world, and already has four Grand Slam titles to her name. She recently completed the Sunshine Double<\/a> and shows no signs of slowing down.<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean Sabalenka hasn\u2019t thought about life after tennis, and the recent Miami Open champion believes she will have to turn her attention to a completely different sport to channel her aggressive game style into something else.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil the end of my life, I\u2019ll have to do something where I\u2019m that aggressive\u2014maybe boxing\u2014because I feel like I\u2019m balancing these two personalities really well,\u201d the 24-time title winner told Esquire<\/a>. \u201cOn the court, I\u2019m quite aggressive, quite emotional, which I need to be to pull out my best tennis. Off the court, I\u2019m a completely different person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boxing is a long way off for Sabalenka right now, as the world No. 1 admitted tennis has saved her. \u201cIf not for tennis, I don\u2019t know where I would be right now,\u201d she admitted.<\/p>\n

Sabalenka\u2019s father, Sergey, passed away suddenly in November 2019 when he was aged just 43. The Belarusian returned to competition for the start of the 2020 season. Their dream was for her to win a couple of Grand Slam titles before she turned 25, and she won her first Australian Open<\/a> title in 2023, months before her 25th birthday.<\/p>\n

She defended her crown in Melbourne Park in 2024 and has since won back-to-back US Open titles, lifting the trophy in 2024 and 2025. \u201cGoing through loss, it\u2019s important to do your work, keep yourself distracted,\u201d Sabalenka explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, it\u2019s important to grieve, to cry, to go through the emotions. Never hold it inside, because it\u2019ll destroy you from the inside. I was letting it go, but I was able to go on the court and practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sabalenka recently achieved another huge goal, completing the Sunshine Double by winning Indian Wells<\/a> and Miami back-to-back. She had never won Indian Wells before, and it turned out to be one of the best months of Sabalenka\u2019s life both on and off the court.<\/p>\n

Sabalenka might be keen to try her hand at boxing once she\u2019s hung up her racket, but for now, the world No. 1 has a lot to play for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aryna Sabalenka is only 27 years old, but she already knows what she wants to do when she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[652,257512,257513,257511,99,428,4563],"class_list":{"0":"post-589495","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-aryna-sabalenka","9":"tag-aryna-sabalenka-dad","10":"tag-aryna-sabalenka-news","11":"tag-aryna-sabalenka-retirement","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tennis","14":"tag-tennis-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}