Top contender Sabalenka faces fresh scrutiny at Wimbledon as mental scars linger
<p>Aryna Sabalenka will carry the aftershocks of yet another Grand Slam meltdown into Wimbledon as the world number one comes under heightened scrutiny to show her nerve holds when the pressure spikes on the sport’s biggest stage.</p>
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<p>The 28-year-old Belarusian was two points from a place in the French Open semi-finals this month, before collapsing to a defeat by Russian outsider Diana Shnaider and later saying that she had descended into a “deep, dark hole” mentally.</p>
<p>The loss came a year after her runner-up finish at Roland Garros, where she let the title slip away, and again cast the spotlight on her 2022 decision to move on from a psychologist, though she has since revisited that step.</p>
<p>“I called my psychologist ... it felt like I needed to talk through everything I’ve been going through in the last, I don’t know how many years,” Sabalenka told tennis website Bounces during her run to the Berlin semi-finals this month.</p>
<p>“It was really helpful. I changed a lot of things and I’m trying a lot of new things now. I feel like I need to figure out what’s happening, sometimes, in those matches to (be able to) move on and to avoid these situations happening.”</p>
<p>MENTAL ENERGY</p>
<p>Wimbledon now presents a fresh test on grasscourts, where four-times major champion Sabalenka’s raw power remains a major weapon, but her nerve will come under focus as pressure moments arrive more quickly on the sport’s fastest surface.</p>
<p>Gustavo Granitto, an International Tennis Federation coach, said Sabalenka’s competitive drive sometimes blurred her decision-making and sustaining a high level in pursuit of a Grand Slam demanded significant mental energy.</p>
