Aryna Sabalenka has opened up on the mental turmoil she endured in the wake of the tragic death of her ex-boyfriend.
Former NHL player and fellow Belarusian Konstantin Koltsov died at the age of 42 after falling from a balcony on the 23rd floor of a Miami five-star hotel.
At the time, Kolstov had been widely reported to still be in a relationship with the tennis World No. 2. However, Sabalenka later clarified that ‘while we were no longer together, my heart is broken’.
Despite the ‘unthinkable tragedy,’ Sabalenka continued to throw herself into her on-court grind, just as she did following the death of her father, Sergey, in 2019.
The day after Kolstov’s death, Sabalenka was seen practicing ahead of the Miami Open where days later she took down close friend Paula Badosa before exiting against Ukrainian Anhelina Kalininain the Round of 32.
Tennis star Aryna Sabalenka has opened up on the tragic death of her ex-boyfriend
Former NHL player and Sabalenka’s fellow Belarusian Konstantin Koltsov died this year
However, five months later, the tennis star has admitted she should have handled the tragic loss differently.
‘Once, I lost my father and tennis helped me to go through that tough loss,’ she said in a recent interview with The Guardian.
‘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.
‘But at the end I would say I was struggling a lot healthwise because I didn’t stop. It was really emotional and really stressful, and kind of damaged my mental health at that point.
‘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. 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.’
Sabalenka was ultimately forced to take a break away from the court after a recent shoulder injury saw her miss Wimbledon but returned to the tour, winning the Cincinnati Open last week – her first title since the Australian Open in January.
She made the most of her enforced break by going on a trip with her new partner, Brazilian health food tycoon and stock car driver Georgios Frangulis, 35.
Last month, Sabalenka commented on a post shared by Franguilis in Portuguese, writing: ‘My love of my life’.
Koltsov died aged 42 in March after falling from a hotel balcony on the 23rd floor in Miami
Koltsov played for the Pittsburgh Penguins and represented Belarus at two Winter Olympics
Miami Police say the Belarusian former professional hockey player fell to his death at the St Regis Bal Harbour Resort
Frangulis is the founder of superfood brand Oakberry, which is one of the sponsors of the Haas F1 team.
After the couple were spotted sharing a kiss together at a recent tournament, one tennis fan is said to have sent a private message to Frangulis’ wife of eight years, Beh Armentano, asking if Sabalenka had ‘disrupted her marriage’.
She reportedly replied: ‘I am married to Georgios but I will ask for a divorce. They’ve been having an affair since California’.
According to her Facebook page Armentano married Frangulis on October 1 2016.
It’s not clear when he first met Sabalenka but she too is linked to his brand after signing a two-year sponsorship deal in January – days before she successfully launched a bid to defend her Australian Open title.
Some fans had expressed their shock that Sabalenka had made her new romance public so soon after the death of Koltsov, who she was in a relationship with for four years, after he fell 23 floors from the balcony of a five-star hotel in Miami on March 18.
At the time, police described Koltsov’s death as an ‘apparent suicide’.
The World No. 2 referred to her new boyfriend, Georgios Frangulis, as the love of her life
Sabalenka won the Cincinnati Open last weekend after a shoulder injury earlier this year
His ex-wife Julia Mikhailova told how she believed her husband had been drinking on the night of the tragedy and his death had been an accident.
She said Koltsov planned to visit her and sons Daniil, 18, Alexander, 16 and five-year-old Stefan at their home a mile away from the scene of the tragedy.
No suicide note was found and Mikhailova said her ex-husband was looking forward to having dinner with the children.
Latvian-born Mikhailova was left heartbroken after Koltsov walked out of the family home when the youngest of their three children was still a toddler.
