{"id":363278,"date":"2024-01-27T21:15:49","date_gmt":"2024-01-27T22:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=363278"},"modified":"2024-01-28T01:03:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-28T01:03:05","slug":"sabalenkas-special-promise-to-late-father-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=363278","title":{"rendered":"Sabalenka's special promise to late father revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\ufeffryna Sabalenka<\/a> has dedicated her second Australian Open<\/a> grand slam victory to her late father, after a special promise made before he passed.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old's father died when she was just 20-years-old\ufeff, before Sabalenka had won any grand slams.<\/p>\n

Now, five years on, she has two Australian Open titles under her belt, after she promised she'd win two by the age of 25.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Serena-esque' Sabalenka goes back-to-back<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Crowd 'disturbance' halts women's final<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> The moment champ realised language barrier\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Sabalenka\"<\/p>\n

After defeating China's 12th seed Zheng Qinwen in scintillating straight sets fashion\ufeff (6-3, 6-2)<\/a>, Sabalenka was quick to turn the attention to her family, highlighting how much this win means to her and her late father.<\/p>\n

"Of course he's my biggest motivation \u2026 he's been everything for me," Sabalenka said in her post match press conference.<\/p>\n

"But right now, I have my mum, my sister who is here with me, and I feel like I have to think about them.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 Australian Open live and exclusive on Nine,<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and ad-free on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/BastienFachan\/status\/1750547722187477236<\/a><\/p>\n

"I just feel that he's always with me."<\/p>\n

Sabalenka reflected on her close relationship with her dad that has carried on since his death.<\/p>\n

She was seen sending a kiss towards the sky just moments after she won her second grand slam on Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"I'm very thankful for everything he did for me, and I think if not for him, I wouldn't be here," Sabalenka said.<\/p>\n

She also paid tribute to her mother and sister, who have become her rocks over the last few years of Sabalenka's rise to the top of tennis.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"Right now, I'm playing for my mum and my sister and my grandmothers," she said.<\/p>\n

\"Sabalenka<\/p>\n

"I really miss them a lot. Of course we are in touch, on the phone, but the phone is different than in real life. I spoke to my mum and there is already a fight about where the trophy is going. She's really pissed right now, by the way.<\/p>\n

With her clinical performance, Sabalenka became the first back-to-back women's winner at the event since fellow Belarusian star Victoria Azarenka, who achieved the feat in 2012 and 2013.<\/p>\n

\"Sabalenka\"<\/p>\n

"There is something Serena-esque about what we have seen tonight," Sam Smith said on Nine's coverage. \ufeff<\/p>\n

"The way that she has gone about it, you would not know that this is only her third major final.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"She has done it without dropping a single set. You wonder if we're looking at a season full of Sabalenka domination."\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A\ufeffryna Sabalenka has dedicated her second Australian Open grand slam victory to her late father, after a special promise made before he passed. The 25-year-old's […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":363280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363278"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=363278"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":363288,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363278\/revisions\/363288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/363280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=363278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=363278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=363278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}