From ex-boyfriend's suicide to father's death: Tennis queen cries when the lights go out

The top of the world can be a terribly lonely place. Aryna Sabalenka, the woman who smashes yellow balls at over 100 mph and reigns supreme in the tennis world, has become the first Belarusian to grace the cover of the prestigious TIME magazine.

Yet, beneath the invincible gladiatorial exterior lies a woman marked by tragedy, grief, and the unfiltered cruelty of public opinion.

In a brutally honest interview, the world number one opened up about the wounds of the March 2024 tragedy, when her ex-boyfriend, former ice hockey player Konstantin Koltsov, fell from a balcony in Miami in an apparent suicide. At the time, as she wore black on court to try and swallow her despair, the internet court-martialed her for continuing to play.

“There’s no right or wrong way to mourn a death. Tennis saved me from depression. I trained so I wouldn’t be alone with my thoughts, and I cried endlessly during practice,” she now reveals.

However, pain is an old ghost. At 28, Sabalenka still carries the open wound of her father, Sergey, who passed away suddenly at 43. Today, engaged to Georgios Frangulis and at the pinnacle of glory, the champion admits that happiness has a bitter taste: “My fiancé often finds me crying in bed at night because I’m watching videos about fathers. I see other players with their parents on the circuit and I just think: enjoy it, because you never know what tomorrow holds.”

Between the crises in her country, the locker room attacks that made her cry hysterically, and the devastating loss of those she loved most, Sabalenka has survived it all. She is the undisputed queen of the court, but in the darkness of night, she remains the girl who weeps for the absence of those who have departed.