Who’s had a better spring than Aryna Sabalenka? She pulled off the so-called Sunshine Double, winning the prestigious tournaments in both Indian Wells and Miami; she sat front row at Gucci in Milan (she was announced as an ambassador for the brand in January); she got engaged; she even got the puppy she’d been asking for.
We had a rare chance recently to sit down with the world number one and talk about her style, her infamous intensity, her hard-won happiness, and how she thinks tennis needs to change. We also talked about her new not-so-secret weapon: the much-whispered-about Wilson Blade v10 racquet, which launches today. (For the uninitiated: Wilson’s Blade series, which debuted two decades ago, is the most-played racquet on the pro tour.)
Vogue: Was the recent Gucci show in Milan your first fashion show?
Aryna Sabalenka: No, I’ve been to several, but not as an ambassador. This one felt special—it seemed like a big moment for Gucci.
Have you been doing more things with them?
We’ve done a couple of shoots already, but everything else is still in progress. We’re definitely coming up with some cool stuff—I’ve already been throwing my ideas at them, and it seems like they’re really accepting them. It’s just a matter of putting it all together and figuring out the timing.
It also seems like you’re having more fun with your style lately—not just the early Gucci peeks that we’ve seen, but in your everyday looks. Is that a conscious change?
I’ve been working with [stylist] Karla Welch, and she’s changed the way I see things a lot. I love fashion, love to get dressed up and have fun, but I feel like my style is more about classic pieces with maybe a little fun detail—it’s kind of like a balance, like a lot of things in my life. But I feel like power is in simplicity. That’s my style.
How do you work with Karla?
She knows everything about me, and we talk a lot, and from time to time we’re messaging each other and I’m like, “Karla, it’s time for some new stuff,” and she just sends a whole suitcase. Sometimes we do fittings, of course, particularly for big events, like a trophy ceremony.
[At this point, we’re joined by the newest addition to Aryna’s traveling team—Ash, the Cavalier King Charles spaniel—who bounds into Aryna’s arms for a big hug as she beams.] How did you end up with this amazing puppy?
I’ve always wanted to have a dog, but it’s really difficult to travel with one on tour. But then I made a deal with my coach [Anton Dubrov] at the US Open last year—because obviously I’d need the help of my team with this: If I win the Open, I get a dog. So I won it. And then I was like, “Okay—we should name him something related to New York.” I won the tournament in Arthur Ashe Stadium, so I decided to call him Ash.
He’s very cute.
He sure is!
Maybe I’m projecting here, but there seems to be more fun and more joy in your game lately, and less angst—or is that just your Instagram that makes me feel this way?
I mean, I’ve struggled a lot, but then at some point I just realized that it’s really important to do stuff that brings you joy and to surround yourself with people who are also fun, who are chill, who are there for you no matter what. When you have the right people, you feel protected, and you feel more relaxed and balanced in life—it’s impossible to feel sad around these people. But my Instagram is like the true me—I’m not faking anything. I’m just trying to show people that it’s possible to have fun being under pressure. I feel like it’s important to send a message to kids that it’s okay to have fun and also be disciplined and work hard. It’s important to have balance. But it’s all real. I have great people around me. [Laughing.] So many good things I’m saying about them—too many, probably! I mean, our jokes are full of sarcasm.
You say some mean things to them sometimes on the trophy platform!
Yeah, I say mean stuff to them, they say mean stuff to me—it goes both ways. There’s no fake stuff in our team. We are really direct.
Can we talk a little about your gift for destroying racquets? I mean, you’re hardly the only one, or even the worst offender. But just to be clear: tennis players don’t ever destroy a racquet because they’re mad at the racquet, do they?
No, it’s not about the racquet, of course. You have something in you. It’s not just me, and it’s not just tennis. They have special rooms for it: smash rooms, rage rooms, or whatever they’re called. It’s just like, I don’t know… you’re upset, you’re frustrated, and that’s the first thing you have in your hand.
I’m very intrigued by the different ways that people abuse their racquets—
There are so many different ways! [Laughing.]
My trademark move—on bad days, of course—is to just hurl it horizontally at the back fence.
I mean, we have referees and ball kids, so we’ve got to be careful.
Oh God, right, you can’t do that.
When was the last time I broke—actually, I don’t remember the last time. The [2023] US Open was the biggest one, when I went off the court and smashed all the racquets in the row. But I’ve been sober for a year from smashing my racquets.
Do you remember the first racquet that you ever played with?
It was actually Wilson. And then I tried a couple of different racquets, but they didn’t work—it was a terrible disaster—and I went back to Wilson.
Which model?
It was so long ago—and I don’t even have the racquet anymore, because I smashed it.
How old were you?
I was six when I started, so probably the racquet was gone when I was seven.
You’ve been playing with the Blade since you were 15 or 16, but more recently you’ve been playing with your own kind of signature model of the Blade, called the Fighter.
Oh my God—that was the best.
But you’re giving that up?
Yeah—it’s just time for some new stuff. [Aryna grabs a nearby Fighter and hands it to me.] But this was the sickest racquet.
You played in two Grand Slam finals with this racquet—you won one and you lost one.
I won the US Open with that, and then I lost in the final of the WTA Finals with the regular Blade. I was just like, okay, that’s not a good sign. Then I grabbed that one again in Australia [in January], and I was like, “If I win the Australian Open, we’ll know this racquet is good luck.” But then I fucked it up [laughing], so we had to come up with a new racquet. So now I’ll be winning.
How is the new Blade different from the last one? How does it feel to you?
So many racquets have the power, but they don’t have control—or they have the control, but then the ball doesn’t fly—and I feel like the Blade is a perfect balance of both. It’s a great fit for me. And every time the Wilson team does a new version, it always has more power and better control, and I mean… I love that. I’m just curious what tennis is going to look like 10 years from now. I guess it’s all about seeing how far out there you can get—to hit the limit and see where the limit really is.
I know a lot of players and tennis-watchers have been more and more outspoken recently about the sport becoming too fast in terms of playability on the court, but what would the sport do if it all gets to be too insane—change the ball?
That’s what they’re trying to do—they’re trying to slow down the courts. Balls are getting heavier, but it doesn’t work so well, because the racquets are getting faster—we’re compensating.
There have been other things that players on the tour have brought attention to recently—it seems like the organization of the sport itself is going through a big shift now, in many ways. I know overscheduling is one thing—the players feel like there are too many tournaments and that the point system needs reworking. Other players are saying that they feel like the balls are different at every tournament in a way that they don’t like.
It’s a big thing. First of all, the schedule is super crazy—I feel like that’s why you see so many players injured. And, yes, the balls are getting too heavy, and the impact on the body is too strong: if you don’t have the right preparation before the tournament, if you don’t have enough time in between, if you don’t have the right racquet, there’s going to be more and more stress, and then at some point you’re going to get injured. But the players feel like they have to play because of mandatory events—they need the points. I know they’re trying to promote the sport, but that’s not the way you make tennis bigger. There are four Grand Slams, and they get the most attention because they’re special—and the people who run them do the whole job. They promote the tournament to make it big, to make it cool for the crowd, and for the players—for everyone, basically—and I feel like that’s how you promote tennis. Not just forcing players to play in every tournament, especially when they’re not promoted well enough. I feel like there should be fewer tournaments, but they should be well prepared and well organized. Yeah, I feel like we should change a couple of things.
Changing things seems like an odd thing to wish for from a player like you: you’ve obviously been on a kind of legendary roll lately—you are the singular force in women’s tennis, and I can’t imagine—
Am I?
I mean… yeah! From my perspective, that doesn’t seem up for debate. You’ve been ranked number one in the world for more than 80 weeks, you’ve won four slams, and you seem to be getting even better with every tournament.
What you’re saying—I don’t really feel that way. I’m just focusing on myself and trying to be as good as possible in so many ways; trying to have fun in life. We’re dealing with a lot of pressure, and I feel like it’s really important to have fun. I don’t look at myself from the outside. I don’t know—I’m just like, Keep moving forward.
This conversation has been edited and condensed.
