WASHINGTON: Two-time Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka is back in action at this week's WTA Washington Open after a month out with a shoulder injury.
And the world number three hopes to be as fit as her rivals playing in the Paris Olympics, where the US Open begins on Aug. 26.
“The US Open is still a long way off. I think they’re ready,” Sabalenka said. “They’re probably just going to rest a little bit. They’re not going to play.”
“Finally, it was very important for me to have some rest. I’ve been struggling since March. It was very important. I feel refreshed and ready to play more. And I will be ready.”
Sabalenka reached the semifinals of the US Open in 2021 and 2022, and last year she reached the final in New York, where she lost to American Coco Gauff.
Sabalenka, the top seed from Washington, is unable to compete in the Olympics because her home country of Belarus is banned from sending athletes to Paris over its support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Sabalenka is eager to return to action after undergoing lengthy rehabilitation for her right shoulder.
“I came here because I was injured and hadn’t played for a while,” Sabalenka said. “I felt like I needed to build my confidence and lift myself up before the US Open, so I needed to play some matches, and that’s why I came here.”
Sabalenka, who last played for Washington in 2017, suffered a shoulder injury last month in Berlin, forcing her to sit out the quarterfinals.
She later withdrew from Wimbledon, where she had reached the semi-finals in her previous two appearances.
“That was a very difficult decision because I’ve never retired from a competition because of an injury,” she said. “Even when I got injured, I kept playing. I was still struggling, but I was able to play. This was my first experience like that.”
“But I decided to take care of my health, do proper physical therapy, to get back to being strong again. The recovery was very difficult because for two weeks I had to do physical therapy, exercise, do a lot of treatment and rehabilitation.”
Sabalenka, 26, has been sidelined for a week and a half to focus on his fitness.
“I feel like I’ve been working out all day,” she says. “It feels like it’s time to take a break, but you’re still working out and doing something. It’s so hard.
Sabalenka works out in Florida, where the weather is hot and humid, which makes it easier to cope with the similar climate in the US capital.
“I felt like my body was in great shape after the Florida competition,” she said.
“Hopefully this injury won’t bother me anymore and I can play in the next Grand Slam, which is my favorite Grand Slam. I really want to do well there.”
