Aryna Sabalenka is one of the newcomers of the season. Many predict a rosy future for the 20-year-old Belarusian. Your trainer Dmitry Rursunov, once a professional on the ATP Tour, even goes one step further.
Dmitry Tursunov played his last tournament on the professional tour in October 2017. At that time the red-blond Russian had failed in the quarter-finals of the Challenger in Stockton/California against the American Michael Mmoh – Tursunov had to give up injured after the first set (3:6).
It was somehow an unworthy end to a remarkable career that really took off when he moved from Moscow to the USA at the age of twelve. In October 2006, the right-hander with the hammer-hard basic strokes even ranked 20th in the ATP world rankings.
Twelve years later, Tursunov is back in the thick of things. Aryna Sabalenka. The Belarusian has won 18 of her last 22 matches. And since she started working with Tursunov, the balance has been: 25:9 victories.
Just as outstanding her testimony against top ten opponents (7:2) in this time span. Before the hiring of the ex-professional, who by the way claims that his hobby is “annoying people”, the power player from Minsk had lost all three duels with this species of female opponents. The Tursunov effect is remarkable. “He’s unbelievable and gives me a lot because he simply has this experience as a player,” Sabalenka praised the 35-year-old.
But Tursunov would not be Tursunov if he did not combine his analysis with a huge expectation towards his young protégé. “She could be the person who changes the game like Serena did. Or like Monica Seles did. Or how Steffi Graf did it,” Tursunov said in an interview with WTA Insider – and it sounded a bit historical. “She brings a lot of power – but also controlled power,” he added.
In contrast, there are “a lot of players out there who can hit hard. But in general they tend to move badly or are somehow one-dimensional,” said the Russian, who is well aware of his (good) influence. “At the beginning of the year, she was a haudrauf. Not because she was an idiot, but because no one ever explained it to her properly.”
Tursunov impressed Sabalenka, who had started the season as number 73 and reached her first Premier5 final in Wuhan, especially the “two faces”. “The way in which Aryna can switch to this ‘beast’ mode at critical moments speaks for a unique talent,” praised the satisfied coach, for whom the adventure with the “rough diamond” Sabalenka has only just begun.