Tennis star Aryna Sabalenka is opening up for the first time about the death of her ex-boyfriend, hockey player Konstantin Koltsov, and how it affected her mental health.
“Once, I lost my father and tennis helped me to go through that loss,” Sabalenka, 26, shared in an interview with The Guardian published on Wednesday, August 21. So at that moment [of Koltsov’s death] I thought I had to just keep going, keep playing, keep doing my thing to separate my personal life from my career life.”
However, the choice to push through the pain with tennis is one Sabalenka regrets. “But at the end I would say I was struggling a lot healthwise because I didn’t stop,” she explained. “It was really emotional and really stressful, and kind of damaged my mental health at that point.”
Koltsov died at age 42 of an apparent suicide in March. At the time, the Miami-Dade P.D. told Us Weekly that they responded to a call at the St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort and that no foul play was suspected.
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On top of mourning the loss of the former NHL player, Sabalenka dealt with multiple illnesses earlier this year, including a shoulder injury that forced her to withdraw from Wimbledon.
“Probably, looking back right now, I would say that a better decision would have been to step back, reset and recharge, and start everything over again. But I did what I did,” she said of how she dealt with Koltsov’s death and her health issues. “At the end I paid for my decision, but I’m really glad that I have tennis in my life and it’s really helped me go through whatever and get stronger.”
In fact, Sabalenka considers her shoulder injury to be a positive thing as it forced her to take a break from tennis. “I realized it only after I was injured and had to step back that actually it was something much needed,” she told the outlet. “It was really sad and I was struggling a lot not to play Wimbledon, of course, but at the same time I was able to take all the benefits from the time. I was doing a lot of rehab and treatment, but I was able to enjoy my life and my time away from tennis, and take all the good sides of not competing on tour.”
Today, Sabalenka says she feels “physically and mentally much better and much stronger” as she prepares to compete at the 2024 U.S. Open in New York City later this month.
Sabalenka previously addressed Koltsov’s death via an Instagram Story statement in March, in which she subtly clarified reports that they were still dating. “Konstantin’s death is an unthinkable tragedy, and while we were no longer together, my heart is broken,” she wrote at the time. “Please respect my privacy and his family’s privacy during this difficult time.” (Sabalenka and Koltsov had been romantically linked since 2021, though the timeline of their breakup is unknown.)
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Sabalenka has since moved on with Oakberry founder and CEO Georgios Frangulis. She confirmed their relationship in an Instagram video shared by the Berlin Ladies Open in June by pulling up Frangulis’ Instagram profile and referring to him as her “boyfriend” when asked to show her favorite Instagram account.
Sabalenka teased that her and Frangulis’ relationship turned romantic after first connecting through an Oakberry business deal. “We signed the contract, then we got to know each other and somehow we ended up being together,” she told the outlet.
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