Aryna Sabalenka plans to have children around age 32 but vows to return to tennis to challenge herself after starting a family.
MELBOURNE: World number one Aryna Sabalenka has revealed plans to start a family in the coming years before attempting a comeback to professional tennis.
The 27-year-old said she would ideally like to have children around the age of 32. Sabalenka added that she would likely return to the tour afterwards “just to challenge myself”.
“I know that I love to accept tough challenges, so I feel like even after having a kid, I would love to challenge myself, coming back and see if I still have it,” she said after her third-round win at the Australian Open.
The four-time Grand Slam champion survived a stern test from Anastasia Potapova, winning 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (9/7) in over two hours. She will next face Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko for a place in the quarter-finals.
Sabalenka also spoke about her desire to be a positive role model. She stressed the importance of balancing a career with having fun to avoid internal pressure.
“That’s the only focus I have, is to be a good example, to show that you can balance things,” she said.
The Belarusian said watching the new generation of players mature quickly was incredible. She noted that 17th seed Mboko, whom she has never played, is a great aggressive player and a fighter.
