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Where Is Aryna Sabalenka the Tennis Player From and Why Does She Have No Flag? Find Out
Find out where tennis player Aryna Sabalenka is from and why she does not have any flag. Also, get to know about her achievements at such a young age.
Tennis sensation Aryna Sabalenka comes from the European country, Belarus. Born on May 5, 1998, she is a former world no.1 in both singles and doubles by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).
The Belarusian won two major singles titles, at the 2023 and 2024 Australian Opens, but she couldn’t represent her country’s flag in both of her victories at the Australian Open. And why is that?
It’s mainly because the International Tennis Association (ITA) had suspended the Russian and Belarusian tennis associations from individual and team competitions across the world in 2022. So, the Russian and Belarusian players cannot have their country’s flags next to their names.
The ITF made this decision in the light of Russia attacking Ukraine in February 2022. Belarus, meanwhile, was shunned by the apex body for its allegiance to Russia. The ITA not just banned Russian and Belarusian flags from the ITF and ATP-level events but also took back licenses to hold professional tennis tournaments in these two countries.
While Sabalenka might not have a role in any of these events, she and several tennis players from both countries have had to bear the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the past two years.
In January this year, several other players from these two countries performed well, but none could represent their country’s flag. Sabalenka stands out specifically because she was the most successful performer from her country, as she won her second-career major without dropping a single set.
The tennis star has won two grand slam titles and 14 single titles worldwide, and became world no. 1 for the first time on September 11, 2023. However, she withdrew her candidature from the Paris Olympics 2024 because of health concerns ahead of the North American hard-court swing, despite comfortably qualifying through her ranking.
Then she withdrew from Wimbledon hours before the tournament’s first match in which she was set to appear against America’s Emina Bektas. She cited her shoulder injury as the reason for not being able to participate in the tournament.
“Heartbroken to have to tell you all that I won’t be able to play The Championships this year. I tried everything to get myself ready but unfortunately my shoulder is not cooperating. I pushed myself to the limit in practice today to try my best, but my team explained that playing would only make things much worse,” she wrote.
Apart from hustling in tennis, Sabalenka has also modeled as she got featured on the cover of Vogue Australia and rocked sporting gear for big names including Wilson and Nike.
However, she has suffered a few personal setbacks in life too. She lost her father to meningitis in 2019 at the age of 43. Then in March 2024, she lost her boyfriend, Konstantin Koltsov at the age of 42. Sabalenka later said that they were no longer together when he died, but she was “heartbroken.” She later posted an Instagram update asking for privacy for her and her family during “this difficult time.”
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