Aryna Sabalenka has retirement on her mind.
The world No. 1 revealed in a video posted right before the start of her quest to three-peat at the 2025 Australian Open that she wants to have kids sooner rather than later, and at age 26, that could mean retiring earlier than perhaps many expected.
“Being a professional athlete, I’m kind of like getting really close to retirement, can you believe that?” Sabalenka, who turns 27 in May, told Australian Open TV. “People retire at like 30.”
The three-time Grand Slam winner was then asked when she’d like to retire.
“I don’t know, it’s a tough question,” Sabalenka replied. “I hope I’ll have a family. I love kids, I want to have kids. I don’t want to have my first kid at 35. The way I see it, I really want to have a kid and then come back. Then I want my kid to see how hard you should work in life to get things.”
Sabalenka, who won the Australian Open each of the past two years, began the 2025 Australian Open Sunday with a 6-3, 6-2 win over American Sloane Stephens.
She will face Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the second round.
Sabalenka reached elite status in the sport when she won her first Grand Slam at the Australian Open two years ago, and she won the U.S. Open four months ago a year after falling in the final.
She revealed earlier this year that she’s in a relationship with Georgios Frangulis.
Her previous boyfriend, former NHL player Konstantin Koltsov, was found dead at the St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort in March in what cops said was an apparent suicide after he jumped from a hotel balcony.
Sabalenka said the two were no longer a couple at the time of Koltsov’s death.
