Aryna Sabalenka talks about the grief after the death of her ex-boyfriend

Months after the death of the ex-boyfriend of world number two tennis player Aryna Sabalenka, the Belarusian tennis star spoke about the death and about how she did not give herself the time she needed to process what had happened.

Sabalenka made this revelation in an interview with The Guardian published on Wednesday ahead of the US Open next week.

Former NHL player Konstantin Koltsov fell from the balcony of a five-star hotel in Miami in March and died.

At the time, it was said that the two were together, but Sabalenka clarified that this was not the case, even though her heart was “broken”.

Aside from a message to her fans thanking them for their support, this was one of the few statements she made immediately after the tragedy.

Now, five months later, she admitted that if she could have, she would have handled things differently.

Similar to how she dealt with the death of her father in 2019, Sabalenka immediately threw herself back into tennis.

Sabalenka was spotted training ahead of the Miami Open the day after Koltsov's death.

“I once lost my father and tennis helped me to cope with this difficult loss,” she said. “At that moment [of Koltsov’s death] I thought I just had to keep going, keep playing, keep doing my thing, to keep my personal life separate from my professional life.

“But I ended up having major health problems because I didn't stop. It was very emotional and stressful and kind of damaged my mental health at that point.”

Sabalenka added that she believed the “better decision” would have been to step back and “rebuild.”

“Starting everything over again,” she added. “But I did what I did. In the end, I paid for my decision, but I'm really happy that I have tennis in my life. It really helped me get through everything and become stronger.”

The 26-year-old had to take a break from tennis in recent months because she was unable to play in Wimbledon due to a shoulder injury. She was also unable to take part in the French Open and the Italian Open due to various illnesses.

“It wasn't until after I was injured and had to take a step back that I realized it was actually something that was desperately needed,” Sabalenka told the outlet.

“In the end, I realized that it was desperately needed. Now I feel much better and much stronger physically and mentally,” she added.

Sabalenka just won the Cincinnati Open and went into the US Open with a good starting position.