Sabalenka: How she learned to stop worrying about rankings and give her best

But like most things in her career, Sabalenka has gone through a learning process and when it comes to rankings, she now knows that the numbers will take care of themselves if she performs well in the biggest events .

“Everything comes with experience,” she told reporters in Rome on Wednesday. “I remember it was in 2018, when I just broke through and got into the top 10 at the end of the year… the next year, the whole year, I was thinking about defending the points at the end of the year. I was having a lot of trouble. I didn’t play my best. I was very frustrated because I was already thinking about the future and all that.

“After that year, I learned that it didn’t really matter. In fact, that year I defended all these points, I stayed at the same level. I realized that it actually didn’t matter. We have 25 weeks.

“Basically, if you do well in six or seven tournaments, you’re in the top 10. You don’t have to worry in the first tournaments about having to defend points in the last one. You still have the whole year to do well, to be there, to fight your way to the top.

Sabalenka’s consistency – as well as her power – is what has led her to win two Grand Slam titles and compete for the world No. 1 spot. Now much more confident in herself, she expects to be present at every event.

“Now I’m getting to the point where I don’t really focus on the points anymore,” she said. “I know that if I’m physically and mentally ready to play, I’ll play well and reach the later stages of the tournament. I’m trying to focus on myself to be healthy, mentally and physically, and I’m ready to play my best.

no hangover after Madrid near miss

Sabalenka narrowly missed out on winning the title in Madrid last weekend, missing three match points as she was edged out by world number 1 Iga Swiatek in a brilliant final.

But the Belarusian said she was heading to Rome with full confidence and would not blame herself for missing out on another big title.

“There are a lot of positives in Madrid,” she said. “I fought back, I found my game. I’m putting everything back together and I’m starting to play at a high level. I fought some very tough battles against the best players there and had some victories. I was about to get another title. But yes, that’s how it is.

“I’m still happy with these few weeks. Yeah, I would consider them good weeks rather than bad.