Former world No. 1 Dinara Safina reveals Aryna Sabalenka reached out to her in 2019 about the possibility of them forming a partnership but ultimately nothing happened.
In late 2019 August, the Belarusian tennis star announced she was parting ways with coach Dmitry Tursunov – who helped her take her game to another level and become an established WTA player. Shortly after the split, Sabalenka was looking for an instant replacement and one of the candidates she had on her list was Safina.
After giving a call to the former three-time Grand Slam finalist, the Russian tennis legend was pretty much told that there was no time to waste and a collaboration would need to be reached quickly. While the 38-year-old didn’t accept the offer, she fully understood the current world No. 1.
Safina, who was just 25 when she played her last match in 2011, was asked by Championat if it was true that Sabalenka wanted her as a coach and also if it was supposed to be something short-term.
“No, about full-fledged cooperation. We talked about Aryna in 2019, right before the US Open. She had just finished working with Dmitry Tursunov. And her agent called me and said that there was such an option, but she had to fly out immediately and start preparing for the US Open. I said that I couldn’t do that. But I understand Aryna, because I behaved the same way when I was a player. I also said: ‘I need a coach tomorrow!’” the former two-time French Open finalist told Championat.
Dinara Safina© Dinara Safina/Instagram – Fair Use
After Safina passed on the chance to become Sabalenka’s coach, the Belarusian hired Anton Dubrov. And they have been working since then and won three Grand Slam titles as a duo. With that being said, it is fair to state that ultimately it all worked out perfectly for the 26-year-old.
Safina shares Mirra Andreeva was an option too
Last year, Andreeva was just 15 when she won three matches at the WTA 1000 tournament in Madrid. A few weeks later, the rising Russian also made the French Open third round as a qualifier before falling short to Coco Gauff in a three-set battle.
Since then, Andreeva – who turned 17 in May – has established herself as one of the most talented and promising players on the WTA Tour, with many tipping her to win multiple Grand Slams and become the world No. 1 one day.
And when she was just starting her WTA journey, her agent gave a call Safina to see if there was interest in working with the current world No. 16. The former world No. 1 thought it was “a great” offer but she simply couldn’t commit herself to traveling with someone for 12 months.
“They were looking for a coach for Mirra. Her agent called many specialists, asked if there was a desire, and then they offered ready-made coaches to Andreeva for her to choose. They called me too, I said that it sounded great, but I was not ready to skate with Mirra all over the world (smiles) . Of course, it would have been an interesting option, but in the end, Conchita [Martinez] works with her ― she’s great. She’s the coach who helps Mirra a lot,” Safina explained.
After making that revelation, the 2008 and 2009 French Open finalist was asked what she would try to add to Andreeva’s game if she had the chance to do so.
“She doesn’t need to add many nuances, literally bit by bit. Cut the corner a little more somewhere, meet the ball a little earlier somewhere, use a little more shortened ones. Well, and we could add more combinations that she would perform automatically at decisive moments,” the 38-year-old explained.
Safina shares her take on the state of the WTA Tour
During the 2008 and 2009 seasons, the former Russian tennis star made three Grand Slam finals – two at the French Open (lost to Ana Ivanovic in 2008 and to Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2009) and she was also beaten by Serena Williams in the 2009 Australian Open final. Also, she had semifinal appearances at Wimbledon and the US Open.
When asked about how she feels about the current state of the Tour, Safina said that she believes the top players from her time were much more consistent.
“In my time, there were more consistent players. There were Serena and Venus Williams, Davenport, Mauresmo, Henin, Sharapova, Clijsters and so on. All were consistent all year round, they rarely had easy losses. The top 10 was very tight, you couldn’t touch the girls. And now someone can fail three or four tournaments and then return to the top 10. Now there is Gauff, Pegula, but they are all inconsistent. Only Sabalenka and Swiatek played the whole season almost without slumps,” Safina said.
Tennis World USA