US OPEN

August 24, 2025

Aryna Sabalenka

Press Conference

A. SABALENKA/R. Masarova

7-5, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Your thoughts on your performance today.

ARYNA SABALENKA: Thank you. And of course, happy to get this win and happy to be in the second round. I feel like I didn't start my best in the first games, but then I found my rhythm. Yeah, happy with the level I played today.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I wanted to ask about the warmup jacket you came on court with. It was very shiny and sparkling. Curious the inspiration, if you had any involvement in it, what you thought about wearing it.

ARYNA SABALENKA: I just wanted to enter the court as bright as possible and make sure everyone sees me.

Yeah, I love this jacket. It's actually very shiny. I think it fits my personality (smiling).

Q. Looked like you had a lot of fun obviously on vacation. Why was it important for you to take that time before coming here? When do you get to take your next vacation?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, I had a lot of fun in Mykonos. It was very important, because the season been really intense at that point, and I felt like I was really low energy and kind of, like -- I mean, I was motivated, of course, but it felt like everything was going really tough. I couldn't show my best and the body was really weak. I felt like, okay, I need to take a little break and a little recharge and come back stronger. And I think it was really much needed and I think I did everything right.

And talking about the next one, I'm want to go back to Greece. It's really lovely place. Like paradise, for real.

Q. You mentioned about your jacket. How important is that fashion side of things for you, when you're playing that you're in something that looks good?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, for me is very important. You know, for me going on court, on big stadiums, for me, it feels like dressing up for the event, you know. For me this is the moment where I can really show myself.

The better I look, the better I perform. The better I feel with my outfit, the better I play. So for me it's very important. I really appreciate to Nike and Wilson team for working on something special.

I think bag looks sick, racquet is amazing. My outfit is, I think it's very cool. I kind of throw some ideas to Nike team, and they came up with the really special dress. So for me, it's very special moment.

Q. How much input do you get?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Input?

Q. Do you get -- you said you suggest things about how it works...

ARYNA SABALENKA: Well, yeah, I have been talking a lot to their team. It was just, like, throwing my ideas and sort of begging them for something special. They delivered really amazing piece, and I'm really grateful for that.

Q. Well done today. How do you compare coming back here as a defending champion versus coming back in Australia?

ARYNA SABALENKA: I mean, both feels amazing (smiling). I love to be defending champion. For me, it's motivation, you know, and I want to do well. I want to do the same that I did last year. I want to feel those emotions, and I really worked hard for that.

I hope that I'll be able to reach my goal here.

Q. Not sure if you saw, but yesterday Serena introduced Maria Sharapova at her Hall of Fame induction. As a player, as a top player now, what do you take from seeing that? What message do you think that sends, given how they were fierce against each other, but they obviously now they get on well?

ARYNA SABALENKA: It was really inspiring, super kind. You can see that tennis is just one small part of our lives.

To see them become that close and become friends, it's very inspiring. I got touched by the speeches from both of them. It was very nice moment.

It's a great message to the world that, yeah, on court we are opponents and we can be quite aggressive, but off the court, we are all kind and we're all friends. It's amazing to see.

Q. People talk a lot about rivalries, and some want to see people go at each other really angry. Then you see Carlos and Jannik, they're not like that at all, and you just talked about these nice relationships. What would you like to see most in the rivalries on the women's and the men's side?

ARYNA SABALENKA: I would love to see more fun content, more fun stuff. I think it would be really fun like if these big players would do some sort of podcast together and talking about, like, tennis topics and having fun and maybe going out and being friendly.

Yeah, just show the world that tennis is one side, but there is off-court stuff and that we are all friends and the atmosphere is really, the environment is really healthy, you know.

Q. The Sunday start. Taylor Fritz was just in here and he didn't necessarily pick to play on Sunday. You got to play on Sunday. Was that something you wanted to do? What do you make of the tournament being one day longer now?

ARYNA SABALENKA: Well, it's a tricky question. I didn't choose to play on Sunday, but if you win the match, it feels great. You have, like, an extra day off, which can be good and bad. But I think me personally, I got used to it, and I kind of like it.

But it's only works when you win the match, you know. Imagine if you finish the tournament on Sunday. Then you, yeah, you can be a little bit frustrated with the scheduling.

But I prefer -- I mean, older I get, I prefer to have an extra day (smiling).