Aryna Sabalenka was irritated after a reporter asked her if she’d been having ‘parties and fun’ before the US Open. World number one Sabalenka was forced to fend off questions about the events and endorsements she’d been attending just minutes after winning with ease at Flushing Meadows.
She hammered Russian qualifier Polina Iatcenko 6-1 6-1 in 53 minutes in another display of utter domination, while on course to win the US Open for a third successive year.
“It just because I posted, like, some activities with brands, and you think that I’ve been partying, not training?”
Sabalenka responded to the questioning. When a clarification was attempted she told him: “OK. Move on.”
The interviewer then asked her if she’d more focused and aggressive since the tournament began.
“Oh, yeah, I wasn’t serious before that.
Next question. Think before you say stuff,” was the immediate reply from Sabalenka.
She faces Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova next at the US Open on Friday for a chance at a seventeenth consecutive win in New York.
