INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Aryna Sabalenka credit her new pet Ash with offering her “psychological well being help” as she continues to rack up wins and preserve her standing as one of many high gamers in girls’s tennis.
Sabalenka introduced her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel to Tennis Channel’s post-match interview following her round-of-16 victory over Naomi Osaka on the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday.
“I really feel a lot calmer, calmer and extra in management,” Sabalenka mentioned as Tennis Channel commentators held and pet her canine. “Once I really feel like getting enthusiastic about my workforce, I simply pet Ash and it makes me really feel higher.”
Sabalenka, who additionally not too long ago introduced her engagement to Brazilian businessman Georgios Frangulis, shared the information of the pup in a social media submit final week, introducing Ash as a “new addition” to Group Tiger, her help workforce of coaches, trainers and different employees.
She spoke extra about Ash after the 6-2, 6-4 win towards Osaka.
Sabalenka mentioned she made a take care of her coach, Anton Dubrov, to get a canine if she received final 12 months’s U.S. Open.
He thought of getting a dachshund, however determined to get a spaniel as a result of “my mother had a spaniel and I beloved them,” he mentioned, including that spaniels make good “household canines.”
“They’re very connected to their house owners, they’re very calm, they’re very cute, and so they eat their dinner cutely,” she mentioned.
Sabalenka mentioned she wished her canine’s title to be related indirectly with New York and the U.S. Open.
“Apple will not be the proper phrase,” she mentioned. So she selected Ashe, after Arthur Ashe, the nice American tennis nice and civil rights activist, for whom the primary courtroom at U.S. Open Stadium is known as.
