THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 6, 2025

Aryna Sabalenka

Press Conference

A. SABALENKA/E. Mertens

6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Aryna, into the quarterfinals. You must be feeling pretty good right now.

ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, of course I'm super happy. It was great performance from me today. Yeah, she's tough opponent. Happy to be through.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Obviously in the last match you played Emma. She had a lot of the support. Once the match was done, it felt like the crowd then fell in love with you. Do you feel like you sort of picked up some new casual British tennis supporters?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, I mean, today I definitely felt all the support. It was so amazing playing and feeling the support. I didn't have to pretend that they were cheering for me because they were really cheering for me.

I mean, what can be better than that? I really enjoyed that. I really hope that it can stay the same all the way, and they going to help me energy-wise to stay strong and to face all of the challenges.

Q. She's a player that can play a very all-court game style. Earlier this week you said you have improved a lot on your slices and dropshots. What was your strategy going into the match?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, I knew that she will try to slow the game and that she's going to go for all of the slices.

I was just trying not to overhit those balls and, as much as possible, try to approach the net. That was the strategy basically. Like staying aggressive, and whenever she sliced, just not rush things and approach the net.

Q. You've won 14 straight tiebreakers. Talk about your mindset going into those tiebreaks and why you think you've been so successful.

ARYNA SABALENKA: Well, I think just because I'm not thinking about these stats during the match helps me to stay focused from the very beginning till the very end of the tiebreak. Because tiebreak is a tricky game. Everything can just go one way or another. You just got to be focused on each point and be aggressive. Not to, I don't know, slow down your arms, just go for your motions. Play as it's just a games and stay aggressive.

Q. When you play a player like Laura Siegemund who admits that her game is something that is annoying to a lot of opponents, what goes through your mind and what's difficult about that versus a heavy hitter?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Well, it's tricky. Especially on the grass when all of those shots, like, it just slows down and you have to stay really low and work with your legs a lot. Especially on the grass it can be really tricky, her game style.

Yeah, it's annoying. But I've been facing a lot of tricky players. I think for me personally, the main thing is like not to over-rush and not to get frustrated by her game, and focus on myself.

I know that if I'll be there, if I'll be focusing on myself and I'll be fighting for every point, I know that I have enough of variety, I have strong game to handle that tricky shots.

Q. You've spoken about the dreamlike quality of Wimbledon for you. What do you remember of those dreams early, and how have they come out?

ARYNA SABALENKA: I mean, I think we all dream the same: holding the trophy, that winning moment. Yeah, it's always been my dream. I mean, I haven't achieved it yet. I had a lot of disappointments here. So I really hope that one day I can experience that and we can talk about if it's the same as I dreamed.

Q. We've seen you're improving your game and working on slices and dropshots. Do you think to be more aggressive also can be going more to the net, to win matches in another way?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, that's something that we are trying to work on. You have to be really fearless to go to the net. I think maybe right now I'm not that fearless. But whenever I see the moment, I go to the net, and I'm confident in my game on the net.

Maybe right now I'm not really sure how to approach the net. For example, I would love to do a lot of serve and volleys. Especially with my serves, I feel like sometimes I'm waiting too long instead of just coming to the net and finish the point a bit earlier. That's something we're working on. I really hope one day I can bring it on court.

Q. Round by round this has been a tough major for you. You've fought hard in each of your matches. What quality do you feel you're tapping into to get this far?

ARYNA SABALENKA: I mean, I think like Roland Garros was also quite challenging. I love these challenges. I think every time you go through these tough matches, you kind of like bring your game to the next level, and it helps to improve your game as well.

I feel like with every match I'm playing here, I'm getting better and better mentally and also physically. So I love these tough challenges. I only hope to get better and better in each round.

Q. Has it brought anything new out in you, these challenges?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Well, game-wise, you mean? Maybe sometimes - not like sometimes. Maybe it forced me to go to the net a bit more often than I usually do on clay or on hard.

Q. You spoke about Laura already. You spoke about the game. She told us she knows that she annoys her opponents with her habits. How do you handle that?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Well, I'll just show her that she doesn't annoy me. I played against a lot of tricky players who is doing all of those slice shots, approaching the net, going for lobs. I think mentally I know how to approach these players.

My focus going to be on myself. I really hope that I'm not going to waste my energy on focusing on another side.

Q. You mentioned the mental side of the game. You've been studying the game for a long time.

ARYNA SABALENKA: Really long (smiling). Can you believe?

Q. Of all the players you've talked to during your career or you played against, who are the two or three who you think have the most insight, knowledge, feel for the sport?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Trying to think right now.

I think not like someone I played against, but definitely talking a lot to Novak, like, he definitely has a lot of knowledge of the game. It's really help me a lot several times. I mean, basically whenever I talk to him, it really helping me.

But like someone I played against? I think actually Barty, she was always very smart and she definitely understand the game quite well. Yeah, I think she was the smartest one.

Q. When you speak to Novak, is it more about strokes and shots or is it bigger picture about career and process?

ARYNA SABALENKA: It's a lot of things. One of the conversation went to like managing energy. Another one about the mental part of the game. Then we had another conversation about, like, mentally approaching those big finals.

So yeah, I think mostly we're talking about mental part of the game. I mean, also one time he really help me with the return. Now he's always like making fun of me copying his return. I'm like, Man, it's working. I'm copying the best. Actually maybe I have to talk to him a bit more about tennis stuff.