Aryna Sabalenka walked off Arthur Ashe Stadium with another bruising scoreline and a flash of anger that had nothing to do with her tennis.
After dismantling Polina Iatcenko 6-1, 6-1 on Thursday, the double defending US Open champion was asked yet again whether the sponsor events and off-court appearances around New York meant “parties and fun” had crept into her preparation.
She snapped.
“You guys are, like, a joke. Parties, fun … like, why would you even say that? Why would you even think about that? What kind of question is that?”
the world No.1 shot back, her irritation clear.
The line of questioning echoed what she faced after her opening-round win. This time she cut it off even faster.
“Just because I posted, like, some activities with brands, and you think that I've been partying, not training?”
she said, shutting the exchange down before it could go any further.
On court, there was no hint of distraction. Sabalenka tore through Iatcenko with the kind of ruthless efficiency that has defined her best tennis in New York, her power game locked in, her focus unblinking under the lights of the sport’s biggest stadium.
Turning away from the press-room flashpoint, the four-time grand slam winner sounded far more reflective when she talked about her performance and where her game sits.
“I've been working really hard, but I feel like I'm kind of moving away from trying to be perfect on court,”
she said.
“I know that you cannot be perfect, and I'm just trying to work with what I have right now.”
That shift matters. Sabalenka has not lifted a trophy since the Miami Open in March, a drought by her standards, and she knows it. The middle of her season sagged, the results flattening just as rivals gathered momentum.
“I think I struggled a little bit in the middle of the season,”
the 28-year-old admitted.
“Once again, I'm not going to defend myself or explain why, what happened, but I'm happy with my level.”
The numbers in New York back that up so far. Two matches, two beatdowns, and barely a scratch on the scoreboard as she chases a third straight title at Flushing Meadows and fights to avoid finishing the year without a major.
For Sabalenka, the story now is less about form and more about fortitude.
“I can definitely say that mentally I'm way stronger than I was in the middle of the season, and physically I also feel stronger,”
she said.
“I feel like I'm on my level of play, and I just want to bring the right focus on the match every time.”
The tennis, she insists, will take care of itself. The noise around it? She seems ready to hit that away just as fiercely as any forehand.
