Novak Djokovic’s ‘unique trait’ revealed by Aryna Sabalenka’s coach Anton Dubrov

Djokovic is renowned for thriving in hostile crowd environments and has prevailed in numerous high-profile matches when the majority of spectators were supporting his opponent. In an interview with Championat, Dubrov discussed how Sabalenka has improved at performing in high-pressure situations.

“Your own hormone has already been developed there: when you go out onto the Arthur Ashe against the American,” Dubrov said. “I think Aryna’s advantage is that she has the opportunity to become more active.

“At the early stage of her career, she went into wild stress and began not to play to her strengths and physicality, but to rush, play hyper-aggressively, behave loudly – and thus simply losing control. “Now she has learned to better direct stress where she can control it, to add pressure on her opponent. This process was long.

“We discussed it a lot in training, but the final say was hers, because she found confirmation through wild and difficult matches – that it works: she does not need to rely on luck, but needs to slow herself down a little physically in these moments, but also emotionally.

”Now she can do more at a higher level: even if she plays a Slam final against the American, where any of her points will be cheered loudly, you continue to focus on yourself.

”Yes, Novak experiences something similar when he plays, and the crowds will sometimes cheer against him. But he knows how to channel this energy.

“This is his unique trait – to do such this in important moments. This is what Aryna has started to do better at. She’s not at the same level yet, but you can strive for it, no matter how you feel.”