It is the Thursday morning before Wimbledon and the world No1 is cooking breakfast in her rented six-bedroom mansion near the All England Club. Under the instruction of Aryna Sabalenka at 10.45pm the night before, this is where we meet for a day in the life of a top player before tennis’s most prestigious grand slam.
Forty-five minutes before this, Sabalenka’s alarm clock went off. Roger Federer famously talked up the benefits of a ten-hour sleep — and an additional two-hour nap during the day — but Sabalenka cannot countenance consistently being in her bed for that long.
“Usually for me it’s good to have between seven to nine hours, not less and not more because I’m going to feel tired and exhausted,” Sabalenka says. “Sometimes I need those days when I’m just sleeping as long as possible until I wake up, but on an everyday basis it’s seven to nine hours.”
Sabalenka’s Wimbledon routine infuses hard work and humour during the day in the life of a leading player
ARYNA SABALENKA FOR THE TIMES
The 12 hours that follow during the day bring unprecedented access to a top seed before one of the sport’s four majors. No area is off limits as we follow Sabalenka and her trusted team of coaches and support staff around all corners of SW19.
8.45am: Eggs, smoked salmon and dried cottage cheese for breakfast
This quickly becomes apparent at her Wimbledon house. Within minutes of the security gate opening outside, I am standing in the kitchen watching her assist her boyfriend, Georgios Frangulis — the founder of the Oakberry acai brand — with the numbing of his bicep to treat a ripped tendon. The injury was suffered recently when he attempted to hit some balls with Sabalenka on the court.
Some may think that the world’s best athletes immediately wake up and do ten push-ups when they get out of bed, but this is far from the case for Sabalenka. There has been no morning stretching since she woke up and all seems very relaxed as she pops some eggs into the frying pan on the hob. “My body is super stiff at this time and I’m not ready to challenge my body,” she says.
The combination of fried eggs — on both sides for her — and smoked salmon makes for a light start to breakfast. A second course is then offered with what I can only describe as dried cottage cheese with raspberry jam mixed in. “An Eastern European breakfast,” the 27-year-old from Belarus says.
Soon, all members of her team are up and about enjoying the comforts of this luxurious property. It helps the laidback vibe that the accommodation for this tournament is unique compared to most other locations on the tour, where Sabalenka and her staff stay in separate hotel rooms.
“It’s super nice here,” Sabalenka says. “It feels like you are at home and have a little recharging moment. The whole year we are on the road and you get tired of the different hotels. When you are in the house it feels like a very cosy, comfy place to chill.”
Sabalenka and her team are able to enjoy greater home comforts at the house they rent in Wimbledon compared with other events where their time is spent in different hotel rooms
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND
10am: Range Rover commute to All England Club
Although the house is located only a ten-minute walk up the hill from the All England Club, a Range Rover with a Wimbledon logo awaits outside. Sabalenka is due to start her warm-up for practice at 10.15am and there is understandably no physical exertion before this.
Amusingly, the driver gets a little confused by incorrect instructions from his seniors and attempts to drop off Sabalenka at the wrong side of the club. He is clearly panicking when Sabalenka politely points out they are going the wrong way, but as a former Wimbledon resident I am happy to help ease his sweating by assuring Sabalenka that the subsequent single track road he takes to get back on course is correct.
Sabalenka negotiates her way around discarded Lime bikes to make the short journey to the All England Club by Range Rover
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND
10.15am: Comprehensive warm up… including the toes
The first port of call on site at 10.15am is one of the gyms in the bowels of the club. While house music pumps out on the speakers, Sabalenka enters a 30-minute process in which she essentially prepares every part of her body for practice through mobility and activation exercises, with the assistance of her American fitness trainer Jason Stacy and English physio Helen Murawska. Using elastic bands to gently pull on her muscles, this even extends to warming up her toes.
Sabalenka’s morning routine extends to warming up her toes with the help of elastic bands
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND
… and continues with a series of stretches
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND
11am: Out on court and getting used to the grass
The vibe so far has been lighthearted and fun, with quips between Sabalenka and her staff at various points, but all suddenly have the game face on when they step on to No7 Court for practice at 11am with Karolina Muchova, the world No15 from Czechia. As per the club rules, everyone standing in and around the grass court must wear all-white clothing.
Further stretching prepares the top seed for a day on the practice court
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND
The first few balls are gently hit before Sabalenka quickly ramps up both her powerful groundstrokes and the audible grunt of exertion that comes with each hit. A swirling wind makes it challenging to serve and there are understandably a few aborted ball tosses. The lower bounce of the ball also is still taking some adjusting to after a long stretch on the clay courts of Europe.
Things become more intense as Sabalenka takes to Court No7 for hitting practice, with her and her support team all dressed in white in accordance with club rules
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND
“It is a big transition because a clay court means a lot of running, a lot of moving and the ball bounces high,” Sabalenka explains. “On the grass, you have got to stay super low. You have to work on your hamstring, on your glutes, on your lower back and make sure that the body can handle that amount of load you put on it.”
Throughout the week Sabalenka has also tested out her game against some of the world’s best male players with opportunities to hit balls with Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner and Karen Khachanov.
“I love hitting with them,” Sabalenka says. “The way they hit the ball, the explosion of the ball is so different. I love to feel that intensity. You learn a lot. Even if you just hit for ten minutes, you see some stuff that they’re doing and you learn from that.
“The types of balls they hit are really tough to handle. Consistently they are going for the depth and are not missing. My core muscles were getting so tight because I had to hold the speed and the power, so it was also like conditioning for me.”
12pm: Exercise bike then back home for lunch
After playing practice points with Muchova, the session wraps up at 12 noon. This is the first of two training hours on the court today and Sabalenka heads back to the gym for some conditioning on the exercise bike before heading back to her rented house for a 90-minute break, including chicken with quinoa and salad for lunch.
2.30pm: Target practice with ‘100 bucks’ for a direct hit
Sabalenka returns to the All England Club for an identical warm-up session to the morning, although this time it is conducted at the outdoor pop-up gym area at the Aorangi Park practice courts to the northern end of the site. The second practice then commences at 3pm, which consists of various drills to work on specific parts of her game.
“Practices are always different,” Sabalenka says. “It depends on what I need to improve and work on.”
Today there is an emphasis on target drills. Empty ball cans, rucksacks and shoes are placed by Sabalenka’s coach Anton Dubrov in different sections of the court and a lighthearted wager placed in which she wins “100 bucks” for hitting one. She takes less than a minute to make contact with a backhand and less than two minutes with her forehand.
Target drills form part of the afternoon regime for the world No1 with a ‘prize’ for a direct hit
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND
The contrast is striking at this point. Sabalenka is ferociously hitting the ball towards hitting partner and manager Andrei Vasilevski with her raw power — at last year’s US Open her average forehand speed reached 80.2mph, ahead of Carlos Alcaraz (78.9mph), Sinner (78.2mph) and Djokovic (75.8mph) — but there is still a lot of fun and humour in the interactions between her and the team. Dubrov even acts as a target at one point, standing inside the service box line with his legs wide open.
“It’s just the way me and my team are,” Sabalenka says. “It’s not like we try to fake it.” It doesn’t matter whether it’s the week before a grand slam, during a grand slam, or just some off-time, it’s really important to balance being you and feeling free off the court. Most of the time we’re having fun and joking around.
“I always call my team a family. They are the family with which we went through a lot of stuff together, and I have never felt betrayal or anything. For me it’s important I can trust people I know and have a healthy environment around me. It’s a big part of athlete life.”
4pm: Steak, selfies and sponsors… life as No1
Sabalenka picks up her racket bag, puts it over her shoulder and makes the ten-minute walk straight from the court and back to her house. Along the way she is asked by a mother standing on her driveway for a photo with her daughter, who has just arrived home from school.
Other than the The Times, there are no media commitments today. It seems a good time as we stroll up the hill to ask about her thoughts on the expectation placed upon her, as the world’s best player, to articulate her thoughts moments after a loss. I ask this in reference to her recent error-strewn defeat by Coco Gauff in the French Open final. Within half an hour of coming off the court, Sabalenka said: “I think she won the match not because she played incredible [but] just because I made all of those mistakes.”
Sabalenka with Danny Yeung, chief executive of the IM8 brand that the top seed has promoted successfully
ALAN CHAPMAN/DAVE BENETT/GETTY IMAGES FOR IM8 HEALTH
Sabalenka has since made an apology to Gauff both publicly and privately. “It’s pretty tough,” she explains. “Sometimes we are under such high stress and honestly my intention wasn’t to offend anyone. I was just super pissed with myself.
“Sometimes you’re just a human being, you let your emotions take control over you and you say whatever it is at the moment that you’re experiencing it. Sometimes you regret stuff you say. It is always a learning process.”
A massage by Murawska to ease any bodily discomfort follows at the house before Sabalenka prepares for a sponsor’s event in the evening. Earlier in the day she was announced as the new global ambassador and shareholder of the IM8 supplement brand, co-founded by David Beckham. A 10 per cent rise in the share price followed, which was an improvement on the lack of a surge when Beckham’s involvement was confirmed.
“Obviously investors like champion tennis players over footballers,” Danny Yeung, the chief executive of IM8, says jokingly before welcoming Sabalenka to the stage at a garden party in a nearby house.
Sabalenka turns on the glamour with ease for the sponsor’s event held at a house nearby to the one in which she is staying during the tournament
HOLLY-MARIE CATO
After adeptly handling a Q&A in front of the assembled guests, Sabalenka heads back to her house at the end of a long day. A chef is on hand to cook dinner, with her usual favourite: a rib-eye steak, salad and occasionally some French fries.
“Because we have a chef, we stay in most of the time,” Sabalenka says. “We just eat at home and do recovery. The week before a grand slam is hectic with a lot of stuff, events, sponsors, meetings and stuff. The only think you want to do in the evening is stay at home, have some food, chill, watch Netflix, drink some tea, and that’s it.”
Sabalenka is joined by her boyfriend Frangulis after winning in Wuhan last year. He is staying at the house with her during Wimbledon
VCG/VCG VIA GETTY IMAGES
As the day draws to a close, I reflect on the contrast to this time last year. On the first day of the 2024 championships, I was sitting at Aorangi Park when Sabalenka struggled to serve because of a right-shoulder injury before storming off the court in disappointment and frustration to withdraw. A day in her company this year has shown a far more upbeat vibe as she prepares for her attempt at a first Wimbledon title.
“Last year was so tricky because it was a little muscle and I was out,” Sabalenka says. “This year I feel like I have a huge opportunity. I am super excited, I am healthy, I am here and I am ready to compete.”