THE MODERATOR: We'll get started. Aryna, just your thoughts going into your first event of this North American hard court swing.
ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, I'm happy to be here, super excited to start. I missed Toronto, it's been a while and, yeah, just waiting for my first match.
THE MODERATOR: First question.
Q. On hard courts this year you've been so successful, making the finals of all four events that you played in, winning three of them. Now that the clay court and the grass court season is over, how do you feel coming back to this surface?
ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, I have huge hopes (laughing). I wouldn't say that clay and grass, it wasn't like it was that bad. I was trying a couple things, things didn't go the way that I expected, and now we're kind of back to basics, and I really hope it's going to work out well on the hard court again.
Q. Paraphrasing what you said after Wimbledon, but words to the effect that I'm really sick of tennis right now.
ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, kind of (laughing).
Q. How long did it take to, and I saw pictures of you obviously on vacation, looking gorgeous, how long did it take for you to get back your enthusiasm and get over that disappointment?
ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, I think the rest was much needed. I suffered during the summer swing a lot like with my body, with mentally also a little bit. It was much needed. After Mykonos, I spent five, six days, maybe not even that, I felt much better. I couldn't wait to get back on court and start working towards my goals for this swing. It was much needed. I would say that a week, it took me a week.
Q. How excited are you to play with Novak at the US Open mixed doubles? I know last year you had to withdraw because of Grigor's injury, so how much are you looking forward to that?
ARYNA SABALENKA: I hope everyone going to be healthy this time (laughing). I'm pretty excited. I think it's going to be fun. Playing with Novak is always fun. Mixed doubles, I played it once in my life, I mean on the Grand Slams, and we are going full, you know, we're chasing only title, that's our goal, I believe, so it's going to be fun and intense, I believe.
Q. Last year you withdrew for fatigue, and I'm just wondering if you could speak to the grind of this stretch leading into the US Open. There's been withdrawals on the men's side this year. I know the organizers weren't all that happy about that. Would you speak to the grind that the players go through and sort of the awkward spot that this tournament is sometimes in on the schedule?
ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, it's very tricky scheduling lots of tournaments, two-week tournaments. If you go far at the grass swing, like you kind of don't have much time to reset, recharge, and go back on court to practice and then play the tournament, you don't have much time for that. So kind of like skipping the vacation time, which is really needed after that big part of the season, so it's tricky to schedule. Then if you go far in the grass court, you feel really fatigued and, like, you're not able to pull out any good tennis, so what's the reason of coming when your body is really under so much stress, not enough time for recovery, you kind of force your body too much, and then it can cause you an injury, so it's very tricky. But this year I didn't do well, so I'm here (laughing).
Q. You mentioned before about getting back to basics on the hard court. What does that look like exactly for you?
ARYNA SABALENKA: It's a routine. It's lots of rallies, lots of basic work, like cross court. I don't know, it's just like, kind of like not, like going back to like really small variety of the game. Don't go too much into these angles, dropshots, like serve and volley, just kind of bring back the baseline game, make sure I'm really confident there. Then, on top of that, put some variety, so...
Q. I want to ask about your racquet. I understand it's the Wilson Blade V10, and I understand it's a pretty light racquet. Curious how a lighter-feeling racquet helps for just your game being more aggressive.
ARYNA SABALENKA: I think you have wrong information. I don't think that my racquet is pretty light.
Q. I've tried it. Like, it feels light to me.
ARYNA SABALENKA: What is not light for you?
Q. It just has a lighter feeling to take the ball earlier.
ARYNA SABALENKA: I'd say that my swing weight is pretty heavy. I don't know which racquet you tried.
Q. I tried the Wilson V10.
ARYNA SABALENKA: Really?
Q. Yeah. Can you just speak to your racquet of choice, and how that helps your game?
ARYNA SABALENKA: I just feel like the racquet that I have, not the one that you tried but the one that I have, is actually, I would say it's, like, not heavy, heavy, it's like medium heavy, but definitely not light. I just have more control, because my head is not that big, so it's like 97, oh, my God, yeah, 97 I think it is. So I have more control and power and, yeah, I feel like it's really tough to miss with the racquet. But I've been playing around, I adjusted my racquet a little bit just so the ball fly a little bit more, and plus the control. For me control is the key, because I'm super powerful and if I go for the racquet, I don't know, heavier racquet, bigger head, different weights, swing weight, I think my balls would go to the moon.
Q. I want to ask you about your approach to practice, because of all the players I saw yesterday, nobody seemed to be having as much fun as you out there on the court. You were really interacting with the fans, having a lot of laughs out there. Have you always had that kind of approach to practice, and is it important for you to make sure that you're also enjoying that process?
ARYNA SABALENKA: I think it's just like my personality and the personality of my team, we always have fun. I feel like it's really important to enjoy the journey, enjoy the practice, bring some fun, do some fun, interact with the people. I think it's really important, and it just helps me to stay balanced.
Q. The WTA recently announced that the players will take a one-time gender test. How do you feel about that, the first pro league to go in that direction?
ARYNA SABALENKA: I think it's really important to keep the fairness in our tour. It's obviously, biologically, the men are way stronger than women, so I feel like it would be not really fair for the woman to compete against biological man. I believe it took them a little while to make this decision and, yeah, I support it. But for me, I'm focusing on myself, on my goals, you know, whatever it takes. If they want to test us all, I'm happy to do that, it's pretty fair, and let's keep it that way.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports