Aryna Sabalenka Press Conference | 2025 US Open Final

Aryna Sabalenka’s press conference following her win against Amanda Anisimova in the final of the 2025 US Open.

Don’t miss a moment of the US Open! Subscribe now: https://bit.ly/2Pdr81i

The 2025 US Open runs from August 18 – September 7 in New York City at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The tournament takes place for the 145th time and is the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year. Last year, Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka claimed the men’s and women’s singles titles. It was both Sinner and Sabalenka’s first US Open title and third Grand Slam title. This year, at the US Open, we’re set for another spectacular tournament as the world’s best tennis players head to New York. Look out for highlights, extended highlights, full matches, press conferences, on-court interviews, hot shots, compilations and more!

X: https://twitter.com/usopen
Facebook: https://facebook.com/usopentennis
Instagram: https://instagram.com/usopen
Website: https://www.usopen.org
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@usopen

Hello everybody. It’s going to be a fun video. I don’t really know to where to go after this to tell you the truth. Do we have glasses? No one. I’m good. Thank you very much. Uh guys, first of all, congratulations. Magnificent tournament. Very well done. In the interest of time, we’re going to go right to the questions. And the first question we have is from a very special correspondent representing the US Open lemonade stand. Emory has the first question. Oh, hi beauty. I think we No, we haven’t done or we’ve done interview together. No. Yeah, we Yes, remember you. Hi Arena. Congratulations. Thank you. Um, how does it feel to win the US Open again? Well, you’re too little right now to to tell you how I feel. But, uh, it feels, you know, it feels amazing and I had really tough lessons earlier this season. I lost couple of finals on the Grand Slam and winning this one means a lot. Defending the title. Um, it just, you know, I cannot, you know, explain you the feelings. I hope you’re going to, you play tennis. Yeah. You’re going to feel it one day. You’re going to understand me. But yeah, I’m just speechless right now. Okay, thank you very much. Please raise your hands. Howard, hi Arena. Congratulations. Uh, you mentioned on court and then again just now the idea of these lessons from the earlier grandson tournaments. Are you first of all, could you tell us a little more about that? What were the lessons? And do you tend to be somebody who wants to forget about a disappointment or think about what led to that and figure out how to win the next time? You know, like after um Australia Open, I I thought that the right way would be just to forget it and move on. But then the same thing happened at the French Open. So after French Open, I figured that okay, maybe it’s time for me to sit back and to look at at those finals and to maybe learn something because I I didn’t want it to happen again and again and again. So yeah, I was uh I was in MKUS, you know, reading my book uh enjoying the view and and I was just thinking that why would I let my emotions to take control over me in those two finals? And I felt like I thought that okay if I made it to the final it means that I’m gonna win it you know and I sort of didn’t expect players to come out there and to fight you know I thought that everything going to go easily my way which was completely wrong mindset you know and going into this final I decided for myself that I’m going to control my emotions I will I’m not going to let them take control over me and doesn’t matter what happens in the match if she break me back or if she plays incredible tennis I mean of course it’s the finals and she’s going to she’s going to be fighting especially after uh recent final. She I knew that she would love to have you know like a better a better result. So um my mindset was just going out there fight for every point doesn’t matter of the situation just focus on myself and focus on things I have to do to win the match. And I think from what I understand today that the lesson learned and um I really hope it will never happen again if I’m going to be playing another finals that I’ll be more in control. David, hi there. Arena. Um upon winning the match on match point, you fell to your knees on the baseline. Um you’ve won three Grand Slam titles before, but did that feel different? I think because of the finals earlier this uh this season, this one felt different. You know, this one felt like I had to overcome a lot of things and to get this one and and I knew that, you know, the hard work we put put in, you know, like I deserve to to to have a grand slam title this season. So yeah, when I fell it was like a truly emotions because um it meant it it meant a lot you know to defend this title and to uh bring such a great tennis on court and to bring the fight and uh be able to handle my emotions the way I did in this final. It it just you know it means a lot and I’m I’m super proud right now of myself. Charlie, congratulations. Um Jason mentioned there was a book that you read and I don’t know if that’s the book you were just referring to there. Could you just tell us what that was and how that kind of changed your perspective? Um, it calls um magic shop the door to magic shop or something. Uh, but it’s about the Yeah. the brain about you know control like it’s actually the way written it’s it’s very interesting because it’s like a real story and the guy who learned how to control himself himself and um yeah how to not not overink so it was kind of like easy to read but you know like reading that book I realized a lot of things and that book really helped me to you know to stay focused and to to focus on the right things on important points to you. Did you hear about I’ve seen so many friends of mine reading that book and recommending like saying like oh my god you have to read like this book is incredible so good it’s about like the the way how brain works and you have to read it it’s it’sa amazing so I was like okay I thought I have to you know it’s it was the right moment for me to go for that book arena when when she came back to to five all and and the way the crowd reacted I just wonder was that a challenge at all to to that mental fortitude you’ve been talking about? Yeah, you know, in this match in the first set when she broke me back and then um at the end of the second set when she broke me back, there was like two moments where I was really close to lose control. But at that moment, I told myself like no, it’s not going to happen. It’s absolutely okay. And that’s what like you know you expect in the final that the player going to fight back and will do her best to get the win. So I was just you know trying to focus one step at a time. Go ahead. Great. Congratulations. You had you’re shining. [Laughter] We’re reflecting each other. I want you were playing a lot of defense and a lot of points today and Amanda was dictating a lot of rallies. she had more winners and unforced errors than you, which is not usual for you. Usually, you’re much more dominant in that. So, I’m wondering how different that was for you to to respond uh to that kind of game. And then I’m also curious how much champagne you’ve already had today. Well, actually, I didn’t have much. We were just, you know, how you call it like spray spraying it out. So, actually, cheers guys. Well, I cannot be serious right now, but going to this match, I knew I knew what to expect. And she’s aggressive player. She um she plays really aggressive tennis. And um I think that at Wimbledon, I was overthinking. And I was dupting my decisions and I was stopping my arms a lot and I was making a lot of mistakes and if not mistake that I was I would just slow down the speed and then she would just spin uh step in and go for her winners. So going to this match I knew that it’s going to be very fast game very aggressive and I was just trying to stay as low as possible and I was just trying to you know put that that speed that pressure back on her and and see how she can handle it. Richard, congrats on the win. Um, you’ve talked in the past about your dad and about the importance of putting your family name on the biggest trophies in the sport and just along those lines, what does it feel like to have another one? It feels a lot. It feels Yeah, it mean it means a lot. And you know when he uh when he passed away you know I I um I was very depressed and um it was a tough moment for me for my family but in that moment I decided to take it as motivation uh to put our family name in the history and I know that he’s I want to believe and I think I feel his u his um protection from up there and I know that he became my my power. So, it means a lot. Bill, hey, congratulations. Um, it’s my understanding in the past when you had problems, you at first worked with a therapist or mental coach, something along those lines, but then you said, “No, I want to figure out or I’m going to figure out it myself.” And now you’ve come through with these lessons that you’ve learned from your setbacks. Is the triumphing in the mental side of the game is is that in some ways even more satisfying than figuring out stroke production and the like or just talk about that please. Well, mental health it’s uh it’s very important and I’ve been working with psychologists for four or five years and she helped me a lot at the beginning especially to you know to understand that everything is possible as long as you put the work in and you dedicate your um time life uh for your dream and um she helped me a lot but then at some point I I realized that I was relying on her so much I thought that okay, like she has to fix me. She has to give me give me an answer like and so I wasn’t really taking the responsibility over my actions and I was making the same mistake over and over again and I was getting upset that it’s not helping. So at some point I decided okay I have to take responsibility and I have to figure it by myself by like thinking like you know like u analyzing and understanding myself better and I think it actually worked really well and I think that was the right move for me but you never know you know like maybe one day I’ll I’ll feel like okay I need someone to talk to I need someone to share I need someone help u but in that moment I really um proud of myself that I actually um take responsibility around my actions and it actually really helped me to understand myself why I’m reacting at something specific way you know like like just to understand myself better and I think it was a huge move and that’s why right now in this under under pressure I’m able to handle my emotions much better because I have better understanding of of of who I am last question in English arena And uh when you missed that overhead smash, you sort of turned around and took a breath. Is that one of the two moments you you mentioned that you almost lost it? Yeah, that was the moment. It was definitely a moment because in that smash I I just let the that do get into my hat and I was just kind of like first of all I was surprised that she got it got to that shot because I thought like what I what I saw that she stopped but then she was there and I didn’t expect it and I doubt like okay where should I play it like for some reason and I was like yeah I was really close to losing because you cannot make this kind of like mistakes on on important some points. Sometimes it can be crucial from my experience. So yeah, that was the moment. But then yeah, I you know I turned around said I I I took a deep uh breath in and I was like, okay, it happens. It’s in the past. Let’s focus on the next one. And and then she broke me. So I was just like, okay, maybe I need to, you know, kind of like reset. But but yeah, the crowd was like, you know, going going crazier for her. But but then I stepped back again and I was like, “Okay, she played incredible tennis. She got to the ball. She played great in defense. Now I have to focus on on on on her return uh on on her surf and didn’t work as well.” But then I I was really focused on my surf and I knew that I have to uh hold my surf and and and do my best on the day break. All right. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Native language. Donald Trump, [Music] Miss Martana. [Music] London. [Music] I see. [Music] for Malaysia. Come on. Thank you.