Chaos slips into the scene when it is expected the least. For Aryna Sabalenka, her chaos arrived with a perfect echo that only she could create. The tennis court, her usual platform of brilliance transitioned into a theatre of absurd following one of her interesting traits. Sabalenka confesses with a humor that only lays bare her true persona. Her truth free from the mask of her potential brought an exciting question to the fraternity: what triggers her to do this? In her response, the WTA star baffles everyone showing how her sound might be the reason for the rupture of her rhythm at times!

Sabalenka, known for her fierce on-court performances had quite an interesting conversation with the Sky Sports Tennis host. In this interview, Sabalenka spoke about her grunts during her matches. The host played a recorded sound from the Belarusian’s practice sessions and the grunting noises made the WTA star awkward.

The host played the recording and said Sabalenka should be worried if she didn’t recognize her own sound. “I would be worried about myself too,” said Sabalenka after hearing her grunts. The WTA star said, “Sometimes I ask him can you make the volume down please? It is too loud. It is too annoying you know.“ 

The common reason why a tennis player grunts is to relax their muscles during shots. Sabalenka is known for being one of the few players in the world, who hits a ball very hard, and grunts equally hard. There are almost none who would deny the Belarusian’s on-court aggression. Fitness trainers often advise grunting to improve the players’ breathing systems and rhythm during a match. Furthermore, that players try to increase their power during shots, and by grunting, they let off the steam during their matches.

While most players are known to grunt during their games, Sabalenka has been in the spotlight for grunting a lot during matches. According to a media publication, in June 2023, this WTA star grunted in 100% of her serve and 95% of shots. Not just the host, but Sabalenka’s opponents and friends have spoken about it too. Ons Jabeur had a particularly hilarious take about Sabalenka’s grunting during the 2023 Wimbledon.

Ons Jabeur took a dig at friend Aryna Sabalenka’s extreme grunting during matches

At last year’s Wimbledon, Sabalenka and Jabeur faced off against each other in the semi-final. At that moment, Jabeur talked about her opponent’s grunting. “She was screaming for both of us, I guess! I couldn’t even scream with her. It’s tough,” said the Tunisian. Jabeur also said, “It is true. I mean, that’s the thing about playing Aryna. She’s there. You know she’s there.”

Coco Gauff also had talked about the Belarusian’s grunting during her matches. When she played against Sabalenka last year, interviewers asked whether the latter’s loud grounding distracted her. “It is true. I mean, that’s the thing about playing Aryna. She’s there. You know she’s there. I don’t notice, you know, when – I feel like at least with her it’s consistent, so it doesn’t bother me.”

While Aryna Sabalenka’s friends are cool with her grunting, she had an embarrassing moment when the host played her match’s sound recording. However, it is a common practice among players and Sabalenka must not be embarrassed for such an act. If this practice helps her in a perfect shot, she will not hesitate to continue the practice. After all, she is looking to run to the US Open’s final and win the title this time.