“It was me against me” – Sabalenka regrets mistakes against Andreeva in Indian Wells final

Aryna Sabalenka has lost two finals in the season already, with the latest setback coming against Mirra Andreeva at the Indian Wells Open, and the Belarusian has nobody to blame but herself.

Sabalenka has every reason to be upset about her effort as she failed to cross the finish line before Andreeva despite claiming the first set in dominating fashion.

“Honestly, [it] was me against me,” she told the press at Indian Wells Tennis Garden. “I made a lot of unforced errors on important points, and I just let her play a little bit better. Yeah, at the beginning, everything was going quite straightforward, and then I just made a couple mistakes. She kind of like believed in herself. After that, I started playing much worse, and I was just trying to find my rhythm back but didn’t work this time.”

She broke the youngster twice to take the lead but was forced to save three break points in the second set’s opening game. Her opponent nevertheless succeeded in securing a break in the third and then levelled the scores to unsettle the world No 1.

In the decider, Andreeva dished out a break to love in the first game but Sabalenka reverted right away. However, the eventual champion converted another break point in the third game to restore her lead and eventually claim the title with another break (2-6, 6-4, 6-3).

“Today, I was just too pissed with myself, because I think it shouldn’t be the way I finished and I was just pissed with myself,” this year’s Australian Open runner-up continued. “I should have just thrown that aggression on that side instead of being too much, too hard on myself. So I wasn’t really caring about what she was doing. I knew what she was going to do, and nothing really surprised me. It’s more just like about me controlling my anger a little bit better.

“I mean, second set when she broke me, but okay, whatever happened there, it’s a mistake. Everyone can make one mistake. But I think I would go back when I broke her back in that third set, I think it was 1-All, and I would be probably a little bit more, I would change couple things in that game. Yeah, I wish we could go back in time. Life would be much easier and better.”

I was surrounded by so many wrong people… Andreeva got the right team much earlier.”

Aryna Sabalenka

Further, Sabalenka acknowledged Andreeva’s team, spearheaded by former world No 2 Conchita Martinez. She envied the Russian, highlighting that she didn’t have the right people around in her younger days.

“I’d say that, for example talking about me in that age, I was surrounded by so many wrong people,” the world No 1 said. “Finally when I was able to get rid of those people and, how to say, I surrounded myself with the right people, you kind of like you have more confidence and everything is more calm and the atmosphere in the team is very healthy.

“I can see she has her family who is helping her with, I’m sure, with a lot of decisions. She has Conchita, really experienced person and very nice person. She doesn’t have the abusive things. Yeah, definitely she got the right team much earlier, and that’s why she’s so successful right now. So it’s nice to see, and I’m happy for her. I wish I will have my team, my current team in that age, probably would be much bigger by now.”

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