"I feel my father is always with me; if not for him, I wouldn't be here" - Aryna Sabalenka turns emotional about late father after Australian Open win

Aryna Sabalenka made a heartfelt admission about her late father, Sergey, following her second-career Major triumph in Melbourne on Saturday (January 27).

Sabalenka was in red-hot form during her championship match outing against 12th-seeded Zheng Qinwen, completing a 6-3, 6-2 win in one hour and 17 minutes. The World No. 2 didn't drop a single set en route to the title, making her only the fifth WTA player to achieve the feat at the Australian Open in the 21st century.

Speaking to the media following her win, Aryna Sabalenka was asked whether her on-court success was a way to honor her late father. In response, the Belarusian admitted that he is always in her thoughts, but conceded in the same breath that she had to look out for her mother and sister.

"Like, before last year's slam, it was like that, but since then, of course, he's my biggest motivation. He's been everything to me," Sabalenka said. "But right now, like, I have my mom, my sister, who is here with me, and I feel like I have to think about them."

She then expressed gratitude for how her father helped shape her career.

"But I just feel that he's always with me. I'm very thankful for everything he did for me, and I think if not for him I wouldn't be here," she added. "Yeah, right now I'm playing for my mom and my sister and my grandmothers."

Aryna Sabalenka becoming the World No. 1 was her late father Sergey's lifelong dream

Aryna Sabalenka poses with the 2024 Australian Open trophy

Not too long ago, Aryna Sabalenka had made a rather heartbreaking revelation, detailing how her father wished that she would become the top-ranked player on the WTA Tour one day.

With Sergey's untimely death in 2019 at the age of 43, the Belarusian admittedly struggled for motivation as her form dwindled. She, however, turned her career around soon after, rising to the World No. 1 position after a runner-up finish at last year's US Open.

“I’m just trying to fight because my dad wanted me to be No. 1," Sabalenka said to WTA in 2020. "I’m doing it for him so that’s what is helping me to be strong right now. During the pre-season, it was tough to practice mentally."

The two-time Australian Open champion also previously reminisced about the day Sergey had first introduced her to tennis.

"One day, my dad was just driving me somewhere in the car, and on the way he saw tennis courts," she said to Firstsport in 2017. "So he took me to the courts. I really liked it and enjoyed it and that's how it was. That's how it started."