Aryna Sabalenka family: Father Sergey, mother Yulia and sister Tonechka

Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka defeated Elena Rybakina to win the Australian Open final on Saturday.

All you need to know about her family – 

The 24-year-old tennis star was born on May 5, 1998, in Minsk.

Her father, Sergey Sabalenka, was an ice hockey player. He played the sport until he was 19. He had quit following his involvement in a car accident.

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Her father passed away expectedly due to health complications in 2019 at the age of 43.

Calling her father death “the turning point”, she said, “I think after that I realized that there are so many things in life to worry about and tennis is only a small part of my life, in the big picture. Obviously I don’t like to lose and I love tennis and I’ll do everything I can, but we have to enjoy our life, we have to enjoy our time on the court, enjoy the opportunities we have.”

“It was something unexpected, he was young, he was 43, and I didn’t want to say it, but I think people should know during the preseason it was difficult to train mentally. I didn’t think much about it actually, but I wasn’t happy, because I knew it was a difficult situation with my family and I couldn’t leave them, but somehow I had to go. I was not enthusiastic about the matches, I only played because I had to,” she added, Tennis World USA reported.